Live The Life That Was Given To You
by Latreia
Summary: Buffy's got a supernatural stone that has to be found before someone bad does and a group of violent demons just aching to get their claws on something or someone powerful. Then theres the mystery new girl... Starts with OC then moves on to more Buffy.
1. Prologue

_**Live The Life That Was Given To You.**_

_**By Latreia**_

_July Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters are property of the very lucky fellow Joss Whedon. All other characters are from my little brain of wonder and so belong to me. If Mutant Enemy, Twentieth Century Fox and Joss Whedon would be so kind could you possibly not sue me. I am very poor and trying to sue me would only end in humiliating failure at trying to gain anything as I would only be handing my life savings of £10 over. Actually that might be quite funny but still please don't sue me! Think of this as homage to the many incredible years of pleasure I received with BTVS and Angel. It may be a poor one in your eyes but I still love you._

_P.S. This is the first story I have ever posted so feedback of all varieties would be beyond incredible. Enjoy!_

_**For R.**_

* * *

**Prologue**

_**Los Angeles**_

The piercing scream echoed throughout the alleyway. Trinity heard it and ran towards the shadows in the direction of the sound. Another scream tore from the woman's throat just as Trinity ran around the corner; this one was filled with pain and not pure fear like the last. Trinity could see how that was so. A colossal demon towered over the petite blonde, its body was a mass of horns and spines so tightly packed together you could barely see the crusted brown skin beneath them. Its features were grotesquely twisted out of shape making it hard to figure out exactly what its expression was. Its serrated teeth raked deep furrows into the blondes shoulder.

"Stop it now." Trinity said calmly.

The demon raised its head and stared at her with green slit eyes. "Stay out of this child, unless you want your fate to mirror hers." Its voice was cold and rasping.

Trinity glared at the monster. "It's kind of hard to ignore you when you're chewing on my friend."

The demon growled deep in its throat. "Fine." It lifted its arm and a thin spike emerged from its forearm. Before Trinity could make a move it quickly thrust the spike into the woman's side causing her to once again cry out.

"Alana!" Trinity called out.

The demon threw Alana into a pile of trash and turned its attention back to Trinity.

Trinity screwed her face up in anger and slid a short sword from a sheath that ran down her spine. Burning with rage she ran towards the demon her sword held above her ready to strike. The demons appearance was deceptive though and it moved out of her path as nimbly as a creature half its size.

"You're pretty spry for such a corpulent monster." said Trinity coming to a quick halt and turning to face the demon again.

"Corpulent?" the monster asked.

"It means your fat and just to be clear it was meant to be an insult." explained Trinity.

The creature peeled back its lips to once again show its teeth, every bit as deadly as the spines on its back. It began a deep growl in its throat only to find it being interrupted by a small pleading voice.

"Trinity, please leave. You don't understand what that thing is. What it can do." Alana said from the floor of the alley.

Trinity looked over at her. "Alana are you ok?"

"Don't change the subject Trin. You have to listen to me. You can not underestimate that thing. Leave before it kills you."

"Jeez you could have a little faith in me." Trinity said frowning.

"Don't joke!" shouted Alana. "That is a Beastealcian demon, the one we knew would come."

Trinity jerked round to face the demon again. "Please tell me you're joking. That's what you've been running from? That's Tynam?"

The Beastealcian pulled its face into its own equivalent of smile. "I see you've been discussing me Alana."

Trinity ignored Tynam and glanced down at Alana. "I sort of forgot to pick up a weapon forged in magic on the way home from the market so I guessed we're screwed." she said sarcastically.

"That's why you have got to go now. Please don't sacrifice yourself for a hopeless cause." begged Alana.

"No I will get you out of here." Trinity said firmly.

"Look as much as I just love listening to you two ladies chat about me all night, I am getting a tad tired of waiting. Can we finish this so I may continue my feast?" Tynam interrupted.

Trinity turned back to the Beastealcian. "As soon as there's a gap, run." she whispered to Alana.

"I'm sorry but she won't be leaving us tonight. I didn't stab her for sheer amusement. I injected her with a numbing agent so I could give you my full attention." Tynam told Trinity.

"Just the way I like it." Trinity said and broke into a run again.

The demon feinted to the left but Trinity anticipated its move and followed it bringing her sword round in an arch. Tynam raised is arm and hooked the blade between two spines before pushing back against Trinity causing her to stagger back a few paces. He left her no time to recover though and quickly charged her using another spine on its knuckle as a weapon intending to impale her on it. Trinity swung her sword round to block him but instead caught the blade on the brick wall of the narrow alley leaving her open to his attack. Tynam found though that Trinity had turned out of his direct path whilst trying to land a strike and so without time to stop his momentum he only just managed to graze her before stumbling past. Trinity sensing the opportunity quickly turned to face him and thrust the sword deep into his back. The Beastealcian bellowed with pain and immediately tried to pull the sword from its back.

"Come on we've got to go now." said Trinity grabbing Alana under the arms and hauling her to her feet.

The numbing agent hadn't even begun to wear off though and Alana was a dead weight in her arms. The weight wasn't a problem for Trinity though it was the balance. She could easily pick her up in her arms and carry her but that would leave her without a free hand to protect them and it looked as though they would need it. The demon was making quick work of pulling the sword free from his spines and he didn't look please about the fact it was there. Trinity dragged Alana as fast as she possibly could not daring to turn her back to Tynam more out of fear for Alana then anything else. The inevitable happened quicker then Trinity had hoped as the Beastealcian finally managed to free himself from the sword and turned its glaring attention onto her. She had barely managed to get halfway down the alley before the demon rushed them. Trinity turned dropping Alana as gently as she could to the side and took the full brunt of Tynam's blow. She slammed against the wall the air knocked from her and pain running through her chest. Trinity looked up expecting the blows to come raining down upon her but instead found the demon bent over grimacing.

"I guess that hole in your back hurts more then I thought." Trinity gasped.

Tynam whirled round throwing a punch towards Trinity catching her across the jaw and sending her sprawling to the floor. "I'm still strong enough to kill you though."

He kicked out at Trinity who quickly rolled out of the way just avoiding some serious damage. She found herself face to face with Alana. Her face was pale and glistening with sweat.

"Please leave me Trinity." she whispered.

"Alana, don't go to sleep. I'll get you home".

Trinity heard a scraping of gravel behind her and quickly lashed out with a kick catching the demon in its stomach sending it stumbling back a few paces away.

"Stop! Time out." gasped Trinity as she climbed to her feet.

The demon looked up at her growling deep in its throat.

"I have a proposal." said Trinity

The growling steadily silenced. "What sort of proposal?" asked Tynam.

"Ok from what I can gather from what Alana has told me you feed from energy rather then flesh right?"

Tynam slowly nodded.

"Ok so you guys mark your victims so you can track them hence the name Beastealcian meaning stalker."

"I know my feeding habits I do not need you to explain them to me." snarled the demon.

Trinity held her hands up trying to calm the creature. "I know I know but I need to make sure that I know them for this proposal to be beneficial to us both."

"Fine then I will tell you instead of enduring your pointless questions." Tynam shifted again as a flicker of pain went across his features before continuing. "We mark our victims not only to find them at a later date if necessary but also so we know when the victim's energy is at a high level. As it is you've already ruined most of my meal tonight." he said as his eyes flickered towards the still form of Alana. "It also acts as a mark of ownership so others of my kind know that they are out of bounds."

"There's a fault with the marking system though isn't there." interrupted Trinity.

Tynam twisted his face into a look of annoyance. "There is no fault with our ways but if you are referring to our ability of only being able to mark one victim at a time, there are many reasons why that is so, none of which I will be explaining to you."

"You can take the mark away though can't you?" asked Trinity.

"Yes but that is rare. There is no need to stop a mark when you can simply kill it instead"

Trinity smiled. "What if you found something better before you had the chance to kill your mark?"

Tynam stared hard at Trinity. "Explain your proposal now."

Trinity nodded once. "You're in pain and you can deny it as much as you want but you're in no state to fight. If you want to kill Alana though then you're going to have to because I'm not moving from this spot. I may not be able to kill you but I bet I can put you in a world of agony. As much as I would like to keep taking chunks out of you all night though, my friend is hurt badly and needs help. So how about we make a deal."

The demon narrowed his eyes. "What kind of deal?"

"The kind of deal where you let Alana go and swear to never hunt her again and I'll give you me. All I say is let me live tonight to help sort her out and then I am all yours to try for." offered Trinity.

"You are not human." Tynam stated.

Trinity nodded. "You're right. I'm not. I'm a vamp."

Tynam frowned. "No you're not like the vampires."

Trinity smiled. "Right again. I am different. Is it going to be a problem?"

The Beastealcian shook his head. "No problem at all."

"Good. So do we have a deal?" asked Trinity?

The demon was silent for a moment thinking through her offer. "Yes we do." he replied. "You have my word your friend is safe from me."

Before Trinity could say anything else, Tynam suddenly grabbed her slamming her hard against the alley wall and pinned her there.

Trinity struggled in his grasp feeling the spikes on his body dig into her flesh. Using one hand, Tynam pushed her head against the course brickwork scraping the skin from her cheek. With his other hand, he held his thumb up in front of her face forcing her to watch as his nail grew longer and sharper until it dripped with a muddy looking fluid. He tore off her spine sheath and used his nail to rip a hole in her top exposing her bare neck and back.

Tynam pushed his face right into Trinity's. "This is really going to hurt he whispered."

The demon wasn't lying and Trinity couldn't help but cry out as the nail pierced her skin and dug deep into her flesh. Her body bucked, desperately trying to free herself as he tore into her body. The mixture that flowed freely from his nail sank deep into the furrows in Trinity's back. It felt as if acid was being poured into her very core. She groaned as her body began to shake with the strain. Black spots began to appear in front of her eyes and she blinked rapidly trying not to pass out. That was the last thing she wanted while still in the grip of this monster. Tynam in his concentration had loosened his grip on Trinity and she managed to wriggle a hand free. She dug deep into his body clawing at the softer skin beneath the horns trying to force him to stop. He seem to find it nothing more then a little annoying though and so entangled his claws into her hair and pulled back on her head before slamming it back into the wall again with such speed and force that Trinity didn't even have time to cry out before she blacked out. Her mind and body found no rest there even in that dark world and the pain soon dragged her back to her agonising reality. With the last dregs of Trinity's strength gone, Tynam had no reason to pin her now and found himself just holding her up as he finished the last few lines of his work.

The demon took a step back and released her allowing Trinity's exhausted body to collapse to the ground, her back a mess of blood and the muddy mixture.

Laughing, Tynam lent down over Trinity. "I'll see you real soon."

"Not if I see you first." muttered Trinity, struggling to stay awake.

Tynam laughed again and raised his fist. With a single blow he sent Trinity back to her dark world.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

_**Sunnydale**_

The vampire ran as fast as he possibly could. His unlife depended on it. He risked a quick glance over his shoulder and wished he hadn't when he caught sight of the Slayer closing in on him and her Watcher trailing behind in the distance.

He hastily ran around a corner and dived down the first alleyway he spotted turning round just in time to see the Slayer fly by.

'Ha!' he thought smugly to himself. 'She's not as smart as everyone thinks.'

He turned around chuckling only to come face to face with the Slayer.

"Not laughing now are we." smirked the girl as the vampires laughter died in his throat.

The vampire swung round to start running again only to be greeted by her panting Watcher. Not knowing what to do next he looked back at the Slayer to find her fist flying rapidly towards his face.

'Ok ok I take it back. She is smart.' he thought as he was sent soaring to the floor.

The Slayer knelt over him and began to beat him senseless. After a while when she showed no signs of stopping, her Watcher interrupted her.

"Uh, Buffy, don't you think you should stake him now?"

Buffy pouted. "Fine."

She pulled a stake from her jacket and slammed it into the vampire's heart.

Groaning, the vamp exploded into a pile of dust.

"Can I please go now?" moaned Buffy

Giles frowned. "Well I'm not sure. By the looks of things we still have a lot to go through. We have the…"

Buffy quickly jumped in before she could hear the mile long list for the hundredth time. "Look, Giles, we have been at this assessment thing all week! Can we please give it a rest for one night? I want to go see Angel before the night's over. Please!"

Giles sighed and took off his glasses. "Well, ok, but I want to see you first thing tomorrow morning. We have some activities I would like to discuss."

"Got it." called out Buffy already jogging away.

"Teenagers." Giles muttered.

_**Los Angeles**_

A piercing bright light stung at Trinity's eyes as she slowly cracked them open.

"Trinity?"

She opened her eyes a little more, enough for Trinity to see Alana sat beside her. She tried to sit up but a sharp pain shot through her causing her to hiss with a sharp intake of breath.

Alana placed a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed Trinity back down onto the bed. "Stay still."

Trinity groaned and put her hand to her head. "What happened?"

"A Beastealcian demon, some concrete and your head connecting with it." answered Alana.

"Oh yeah how could I forget."

Trinity closed her eyes again hoping to block out some of the harsh light that was making her head pound.

"How the hell did you manage to get me back here though?" she questioned.

Alana smiled at her. "Tynam left soon after he hit you. He didn't even so much as look in my direction. As soon as the numbness began to wear off, I felt a little better so I use my cell phone to call Titan. He came and put you in the backseat of his car before helping me walk there myself." The smile faded and Alana lowered her eyes. "We were really worried about you Trin. We couldn't get you to wake up and you looked such a mess. There was just so much blood everywhere I couldn't even see where the worst of your wounds were." Alana looked up again and gave Trinity a small smile. "By the time we got back to yours the numbness had pretty much worn off. Titan carried you inside and helped me to clean you up before he had to get going."

The two girls were silent both thinking about the event until finally Trinity broke it.

"How long was I out for?"

"A day and a night." replied Alana.

"A day and a night!" Trinity shouted in disbelief. "That's too much time lost! I've got to get going."

She sat up in bed, grimacing with every movement, and swung her legs round onto the floor, taking a few moments to let the waves of dizziness pass.

"You can't leave!" Alana protested. "You're still too weak, you need time to heal."

"For once time is the one thing I don't have." said Trinity as she shakily stood and began stumbling to the bathroom. "Anyway I heal quick." she called out behind her.

When she did eventually look in the mirror though, not only could she feel it but she could see that Alana was right, she did look terrible. There was a graze on her left cheek and a deep gash across the right of her forehead. Bruises coated the bottom of her jaw decorating a fat split lip. She looked a lot paler then usual her long dark hair only helping to emphasise her skin. Tiredness was etched into her face making her feel even more exhausted just by looking at it. Trinity winced as she slowly and carefully peeled off her top. There was another gash along her left hand side but her ribs looked the worse. They were a deep purple in colour but were already tinged with yellow thanks to her rapid healing abilities. Finally she turned to look at her back. The majority was covered with bandages many with blood already seeping through slightly. What skin that could be seen was covered with cuts and bruises. Trinity dreaded to think how she must have looked to Alana when she first got her home.

"No wonder she's fretting." muttered Trinity.

Alana was sat at the kitchen table when Trinity who had finally managed to finish getting ready stumbled in. She had only thrown up once during the whole event which Trinity was faintly surprised at. She felt like she could probably have done a lot more.

"You're really going aren't you?"

Trinity began gathering some things from the cupboards and throwing them into a bag. "Yep."

Alana stared at Trinity who was moving as fast as her body would let her, watching every wince she made. "What you did last night, it was so… stupid. You saved my life. Thank you."

"No problem." replied Trin.

"He's going to find you and if you're not careful he's going to kill you." Alana stated.

"I know." said Trinity continuing with her packing.

She reached up to grab a bottle of water but was stopped as pain suddenly tore through her again causing her to cry out and clutch at her tortured body. Alana rushed to her side and helped her to sit down.

"Take me with you, you still need looking after."

Trinity looked up, the pain slowly receding again. Alana looked so innocent and gentle but she knew that inside she was stronger and braver then any demon. None of that mattered though. Alana was human. Trinity was a demon. If things went bad she would probably survive. Alana wouldn't.

"No."

Alana jumped to her feet sending her chair crashing to the floor. "You need me! Let me come!"

"No." said Trinity in the same calm voice.

"I can help you find the Althea Stone. That way you can rest up more and heal properly. If there's trouble, I can help you fight!"

"No!" shouted Trinity.

An uncomfortable silence stretched between the two.

"You'll be a hindrance to me." Trinity said gently. "Instead of concentrating on what I need to be doing, I would always be checking up on you. I need you to be safe here where I know I don't need to worry."

Alana stared hard at the floor.

"I'm sorry but that's just the way things go." sighed Trinity." I can live through a lot more then you."

"I understand." said Alana in a strained voice.

Trinity carefully rose and grabbed her bag before walking outside to her motorbike. Alana followed her and waited on the doorstep.

"I'll never forget everything you've done for me Alana. Take care." called Trinity.

She jammed on her helmet and swung herself onto the bike. Starting the engine, Trinity gave a quick wave goodbye and then sped off down the street.

Alana watched her turn the corner. "It's ok to need others Trin. It's ok to let them in. After all you are almost human." she whispered.

She raised her face to the warm glow of the sun. "Thank you anyway vampire."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

_**Sunnydale**_

It was dusk by the time Trinity pulled up outside her house in Sunnydale. She was so thankful that for once in her life she had planned ahead and sorted out everything she needed in Sunnydale, including the house, way before hand. She dreaded to think how she would have coped if she had to find a hotel she thought as she pulled her weary body off her motorbike. Dragging her bag she stumbled into the semi furnished house and promptly collapsed on the couch. She spent a few minutes like that letting her muscles slowly relax before stretching out to try and work the stiffness from others. She was just entertaining thoughts of never moving again when her stomach growled interrupting the idea. Peeling herself from the couch she staggered to the fridge hoping to fill the empty hole inside her. Unfortunately her idea of forward planning hadn't quite stretched to the idea of stocking the fridge and so was forced to think again. She was just contemplating going to bed on an empty stomach when it interrupted her again with another growl.

"Ok, fine I get the picture." grumbled Trinity.

Grabbing her black leather jacket from the back of the sofa, Trinity took her moody self off out to hunt.

* * *

"Well it's driving me crazy Will, as if I haven't got enough to do with all these stupid tests." grumbled the short blonde Slayer. 

"I'm sure he means well. He's just you know worried about everything especially after the whole incident with Ms Calendar and the possessing demony thing. He just wants to straighten everything out, make sure he's on top of everything. It's all very British you know, the whole stiff upper lip with the 'I will work harder so no-one will know I'm upset' persona." replied the red head walking beside her.

"Yeah well I wish he would work harder on something other then me. I do feel a little bad though. I had to use Ms Calendar's test tomorrow as an excuse to get tonight off. I told him I had to revise extra hard so she wouldn't think my slayings getting in the way of my studies. He just sort of paled at the mention of her name and stuttered a 'that's understandable Buffy. I will give you tonight off and we will continue again tomorrow.' Poor guy. I think he really misses her Willow."

Willow sighed. "Me too. They were so good together too. I hope they work it out. It was kind of nice to have another nerd around."

Buffy smiled. "Willow you are not a nerd. You're cool!"

"That's ok, I know I am and I've made my peace with that. I'm proud to be nerdy!" said Willow returning the smile.

Buffy turned and perched on a nearby tomb and scanned the cemetery. "I wonder what's up with all the vamps. Shadyhill's just as quiet as the other two. I don't like it when it's quiet. Makes me think the vamps are fiendishly plotting something. Besides I'm grumpy. I really wanted to hit something."

"Well at least now you have the chance to get some revision done." said Willow perching next to Buffy. "What do you want to start on first? Ms Calendar's stuff or the History test for Friday?"

Before anymore could be said a vampire leapt from up from behind the graves and jumped on Willow knocking her to the floor, his fangs aiming for her jugular.

Buffy jumped into action and grabbed the back of the vamps funeral suit hauling him off Willows back and throwing him across the headstones. "Well at least I don't have to choose between Computing and History now 'cause either way it was just going to be painful.

* * *

Trinity stood behind a tree and watched as a petite blonde girl with an equally small red head strolled through Shadyhill Cemetery. Out of sheer curiosity more then anything else, Trinity strained to hear what the girls were saying to one another. Crouching low she followed them eavesdropping on their conversation while making sure to stay out of sight. Finally Trin took refuge behind a tall gravestone and sat down leaning lazily against it. 

"Jeez they could at least be gossiping about something interesting." she sighed as she resigned herself for the long wait until the girls had disappeared.

She had already been to three other cemeteries and she'd be damned if she was going to journey to another one tonight. Her interest perked up when she thought she heard something about demon possession but Trinity soon settled down again when they continued their conversation on school tests.

"So this is what I've got to look forward to tomorrow." muttered Trinity rolling her eyes. "I never thought I'd say this but please, please let a vampire turn up and put me out of my misery."

The words had barely left her mouth before she heard a growl and a scream.

"Please, please let me win a million pounds?" said Trinity hopefully leaping to her feet preparing to finally eat at last.

Trin froze though as she was greeted with the sight of the blonde pulling the vampire off the red head and throwing him across the graves as if he weighed practically nothing. Cautiously, Trinity slowly crouched back down and watched the action as it unfolded.

The blonde picked the red head up who as soon as she was on her feet backed up to the backpacks on the tombstone. The blonde however charged after the vampire and dealt him flying kick that sent him sprawling. The vampire scrambled to his feet and threw a clumsy punch at the girl. The girl as expected sidestepped out of the way and delivered a punch straight back at him. The sound of bone crunching under her fist was enough that even Trinity grimaced. The vampire was now howling in agony and spitting obscenities at the blonde. The girl laughed and Trinity struggled to hear what was said. It was enough to know that the vamp wasn't amused by it. The red head suddenly called out 'Buffy!' and threw a stake to the blonde who quickly embedded it into the vampire's chest. A second later the vamp was dust. The blonde, Buffy, walked back to the red head.

"You ok Willow?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Thanks for that!" smiled the red head.

Buffy sat back down on the grave. "Right where were we?"

Willow held up two books. "Computing or History?"

Trinity turned and slumped back against the gravestone not bothering to listen into any more of the conversation. "Crap, a Slayer."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"So Buffy kicked ass then?"

"On both slaying and revision." grinned Willow.

Xander frowned and looked towards the library office. "Doesn't sound like she's kicking much ass now though."

Buffy and Giles's muffled voices could be heard arguing through the closed door of the school library's office.

Willow joined Xander's frowning. "Oh that's about those Slayer tests of Giles's again." Willow lowered her voice. "Buffy thinks they're a pointless waste of time especially with the tests the schools got on for us at the moment. She says she can't concentrate on both."

"I'm not surprised." agreed Xander. "Giles's is running her a little ragged. I know he's upset about Ms Calendar and all but he really picked a bad time to dump on Buffy. She's stressed enough as it is."

Willow nodded. "And it means she's not getting to spend much time with Angel."

"That can only be a good thing. The further away dead boy stays from her the better."

"Xander!"

The office door suddenly slammed open with an ear splitting bang and Buffy stormed out with Giles following closely behind.

"I'm sorry Buffy that these tests coincide with your school exams but the council will eventually want progress reports and it is my duty to provide them with them. Maybe if you spent a little less time on you social life and…"

"My social life!" said Buffy whirling around to meet him.

Xander cringed. "Oh so the wrong thing to say."

"What social life?" continued Buffy. "I get up, go to school, stay late to train, go on patrol and then go to bed. Somewhere in between all of that I try to eat and study. I've barely even seen Angel all week though he's trying to slacken the load you've dumped on me by patrolling himself."

"Buffy it is your duty to patrol, and your Slayer duties should always come first."

"First before what? Failing school? Well gee ok but you get to explain to my mum why even though I spend hours around Willow's and locked away in my room studying, I still can't seem to get a single passable grade."

"Wow I'm sensing tension."

"Cordelia! As observant as ever!" said Xander as Cordelia strolled through the library doors.

Cordelia smirked at Xander. "It's a gift." She pulled up a chair and sat down in it crossing her legs and showing ample thigh in her short skirt. "So why am I here?"

"I ask myself that same question about you everyday." Xander said.

"Gee Xander did you get invited too or did they just need someone to go fetch donuts again?" retorted Cordelia.

"Thank you for joining us Cordelia." interrupted Giles before the bickering could go any further. "Buffy if you would take a seat. We will continue this conversation later."

Buffy frowned but reluctantly took a seat.

"Now then if Buffy and Willow would kindly inform us how their patrol went last night." Giles asked.

"It was weird!" Willow said excitedly.

Giles frowned. "Weird how exactly?"

"Well it was quiet wasn't it Buffy. We went to three cemeteries and we only got one vamp all night, which Buffy of coursed staked."

Buffy nodded her argument with Giles quickly forgotten. "Slayed him dead… er."

Giles took off his glasses and wiped them with his handkerchief. "Yes well we all know that generally it doesn't bode well when the demons are in hiding." Putting his glasses back on Giles continued. "I have received some worrying information that might give us a reason for this disturbance or should I say lack of."

"Venom's back and Spidey's too busy playing away with the Black Cat to worry about it." Xander concluded.

"You had a comic reading marathon again didn't you." whispered Willow.

"As I was saying." Giles said raising his voice. "I have received some information from the council no less. They have been receiving reports of a Stone of quite some considerable power residing in Sunnydale. That is as about as much information as they have at this precise moment in time. It is safe to say though that if it fell in the wrong hands, the effects could be devastating." Giles walked to the last remaining free chair and sat down. "Now we have no reason to believe that it has been found by anyone yet or even if anyone but the council know about it, but it is safe to say it would be much wiser for us to collect it first then to let it remain where it is.

"Ok fine tell me where it is and I'll go fetch then." Buffy replied.

Giles frowned. "Ah yes well that is where we hit a snag. We actually have no idea as to its exact location at the moment though given its mythological background I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it was somewhere demonic."

"That and it's Sunnydale and just about everything's demonic here." added Xander.

"Well I am a Slayer. I could just go and beat the location out of someone!"

"While I would normally agree with you on your normally effective if a little heavy handed tactics, I am afraid that all that could do is alert the general demon population to the Stones presence." responded Giles.

"Um Giles."

Giles looked at Willow then followed her gaze towards the library entrance. Stood there was a girl around the same age as Buffy and the others. She was fairly tall with long dark hair and big dark eyes that looked decidedly nervous.

Giles, suddenly remembering he was actually employed to work jumped up from his seat. "Ah yes, um hello may I help you with something?"

Trinity gave him a small smile and held up a piece of paper. "Um yeah, I was told to come here to get these books. I'm sorry I'm new, I don't even know where to begin to look."

"That's quite alright" assured Giles taking the list from her. "Uh if you don't mind my asking, that is quite a strong English accent you have there. Are you from anywhere I might know?"

Trinity's smile widened. "I should hope so! I'm from London originally but I've moved around a lot. My parents finally decided to leave the country altogether last month and move here."

"Oh you've been here a month already? I don't believe I've seen you before?"

"No I expect you haven't. My parents have been away a lot on business which meant I was a little late enrolling. In fact they still haven't got back from their last trip yet. This is my first day here."

"Well I'm sure you will enjoy it." Giles looked down at the list. "Right well these are all pretty standard books I will go fetch them for you. If you need help with anything else you need only ask. My name is Rupert Giles."

"But call him Giles everyone else does." called out Xander.

"Yes thank you Xander." Giles glowered.

Trinity let out a small laugh. "I'm Maria, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Giles smiled and wandered off into the stacks to find the books.

"So." said Xander getting up to lead Trinity/Maria over to the table. "You're from England huh!"

Trinity nodded.

"You know I don't think Giles has ever been so pleased to meet a new student. He gets kind of excited when it comes to the old home country. He thinks Americans are crazy."

"You're really not helping to correct that image either right now" jumped in Buffy. "I'm sorry he's male. I'm Buffy and this is Willow, Xander and Cordelia." Buffy introduced pointing at them."

"Hi, it's good to meet you." Trinity said.

An awkward silence fell over the group.

"So what exactly is there to do in this town?" Trinity finally said.

"Not a lot." answered Buffy.

"Well there is The Bronze." Willow added.

"Hey yeah that's a great idea!" Xander said perking up. "In fact we're going there tonight if you want to join."

"Oh I don't want to butt in on your group." started Trinity.

"No it's fine it seems everyone else does. Anyway it's the only half decent place to go around here so you might as well come." sighed Cordelia.

"Way it'd go for friendliness there Cordy." Xander said rolling his eyes. "Ignore her everyone else does. Look your more then welcome so come."

"Ok then, I guess if it's alright!" Trinity said brightening up.

"Great that's sorted then!"

Giles returned from the stacks carrying a pile of books. "There I believe that's everything."

"Thank you." Trinity replied putting them in her bag and shouldering it. "I guess I'll see you all later then. Bye."

"Bye." called Xander as she walked through the door.

"Nice one Xander." Buffy muttered as soon as she was gone.

"What? What did I do?"

"How much do you think she heard?" Buffy asked Giles.

"I don't know but I would advise you all to be on your guard with her tonight. If we're lucky she may well just be an innocent."

"Like that will last long in this hell hole" remarked Cordelia.

"It's unfortunate that you must spend the evening with her but try to act as normal as possible just in case she's not."

"In case she isn't? Did you see what she was wearing. That old leather jacket with those jeans and boots. I don't care if she is pretty that's just so not a good look. It just proves my point that the British just don't know how to dress."

"Yes thank you Cordelia." said Giles frowning.

"Please, the man who wears tweed for comfort is trying to scold me on my observations on fashion."

"What happens if she is part of this whole Stone thing?" questioned Willow

"Then I will let Buffy use her own discretion on how to deal with that situation. I trust she can handle it. As for now, I will see what information I can find on the Stone but you all will be late for class so I think it best for you to leave it for now. If you hear anything at all no matter how small contact me immediately.

* * *

"So how's it going?" asked Alana later that day.

"Not bad" answered Trinity whilst holding the phone with one hand and drinking a glass of pig's blood with the other. "I found a Slayer."

"The Slayer!"

"Yep. I'm meeting her later tonight for fun and frolics with her and her buddies."

"I thought Slayers didn't have buddies?" asked Alana.

Trinity shrugged then realised she couldn't see it. "So did I but hey times are a moving forward. The main thing is they're looking for the Althea Stone just like me."

"And that's a good thing because…"

"Because I still don't have a clue where the damn thing is." Trinity paused to take a sip of her drink. "The Slayer knows this town. If I can get in with her and her little gang I can probably find this thing a lot quicker."

"Isn't that a little dangerous? She could find out about you, she could kill you Trin."

Trinity laughed. "Relax Alana, I'm not here to cause trouble. I'm just going to get the Stone and leave. Fine she might not want me using it but I'm not exactly ok with the idea of mass murder either that's why I'm going to do the ritual in the desert. Besides it's not like I'm going to announce my intentions to her. What she doesn't know won't hurt her. Nothing can go wrong."

"Well now you've cursed it." Alana groaned.

Trinity laughed again and finished off the blood.

"Trinity. Tell me truthfully, how are you?"

Trinity paused before answering. "I'm ok. My injuries from Tynam have pretty much healed up, though I've got to say I'm not loving my new back tattoo."

"And the other stuff?"

"It's been ok the last couple of days." Trinity answered quietly. "A couple of twinges but nothing serious. Fingers crossed its settled down for a while. I need it to, to be able to get this job done."

"Trinity you will call me if you get in trouble won't you?"

"No I won't but the fact that I know I've got a friend out there who cares enough to drop everything for me in a moments notice will keep me going. I'll be fine Alana. Don't worry about me."

"I can't help it."

Trinity shook her head. "I've got to shoot but I'll give you another call just as soon as I can."

"Watch your back Trin. Tynam's still out there after your blood." warned Alana.

"I will. Speak to you soon." said Trinity and then she hung up the phone.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Willow and Xander sighed in unison.

"So here we are at The Bronze." said Xander. "Just another normal night at The Bronze. Same old faces, same old music, same old couches." Xander collapsed onto Willow's shoulder. "Man I'm so bored."

Willow patted his shoulder. "There, there Xander. Look there's Cordelia over there maybe you could laugh at her being all 'look at me, look at me' that normally cheers you up."

Xander looked up and felt his heart sink. Cordelia wasn't only posturing and posing as pure usual but she was doing it whilst draped over what was obviously a college student.

'What the hell is wrong with me?' he thought to himself. 'I hate Cordelia!' Xander sighed. 'But boy do I love making out with her. Is she doing this to me because of that Maria girl earlier?'

Xander had gotten into a row with Cordelia shortly after leaving the library over his 'invitation' to Maria. She accused him of blatant flirting which of course he wasn't but if Cordy had decided that then she would just go and show off in front of Xander knowing there was nothing he could do about it. He watched as the guy went to get her a drink and Cordelia, spotting Willow and Xander stalked over to them.

"So where's your two completely out of your league women Xander?" asked Cordelia.

"Hey they are not out of my league!"

"Oh please even Willows out of your league and that's saying something." Cordelia scowled.

Willow could see this fight was going to get nasty and so jumped in not wanting to sit and watch them bicker like children all night. "Buffy had to go with Giles and check out some reports of demon activity and Maria hasn't shown. I guess she was too nervous or shy or something."

"Or to smart to know not to hang out with the likes of you guys." retorted Cordelia.

"Hey!" Xander shouted. "You were there too so she's standing up you as well as us!"

"I really hope you're not talking about me 'cause I wasn't planning on standing anyone up. I just got held up." said Trinity causing all three to jump.

"Woah." Xander said holding his chest. "She's as bad as Angel."

"Who's Angel?" asked Trinity.

"Buffy's boyfriend. He's really good at sneaking up on people too." replied Willow.

Trinity smiled. "Sorry if I made you jump. I guess you were just all pretty involved in your argument."

"Don't worry no argument here just some silly joking around!" grinned Xander.

"Sure whatever Xander. She isn't that stupid." Cordelia said. "It's nice to see you're not a total lost cause Maria and you can dress fairly well."

Maria looked down at her low cut, fitted, deep purple top and her tight black trousers over knee length black leather boots. "Um thanks. I think." Trinity looked at Cordy's yellow dress with black belt and matching shoes. "I like your outfit too Cordelia."

"You kind of have to. I'm in it. See you losers later." Cordelia said and walked off to rejoin her new guy.

"Well she's a breath of fresh air." remarked Trinity

"I would replace fresh with foul in that sentence." Xander scooted over on the couch squeezing up to Willow. "Here sit, join!"

The next few hours were spent chatting about school, friends and home life while enjoying good music. Trinity made sure not to volunteer too much information but after a while she was starting to resent having to be so secretive. These were good kids and she was starting to like them. She wasn't happy Buffy wasn't there though. That was the one person she really needed to get close to. Trin couldn't remember the last time she had just sat back and enjoyed herself like this. Sure she had Alana but most of their time together was spent sorting out demon stuff. 'I wonder if this is what it's like just having a normal human life. No threats, no worries, no big evil. just good friends and a simple yet perfect night.' She had almost started to forget why she was there when Willow suddenly sat up.

"Cordelia's leaving."

"Good riddance." Xander huffed.

Willow turned and looked Xander in the eye. "I think we should go talk to her, we didn't finish our conversation earlier did we."

Xander frowned. "I really have nothing more I want to say to her Will."

Willow grabbed Xander's hand and squeezed tightly. "Really Xander I think you have some more to say to her. In fact the conversation could turn ugly so Maria better stay here. If Buffy was here she would want to go after Cordy."

Xander's frown turned to a look of puzzlement and then realisation. "Oh yeah we better go have a quick word. You stay here Maria, we will be right back."

"No it's fine really, with a stranger there this conversation might go more smoothly." insisted Trinity. 'Yeah like I'm going to miss out on vamp action' she thought.

"We haven't got time to talk about this we're going to lose her." Willow quickly said.

The three of them rushed to the exit and after Cordelia. They had barely turned the corner away from The Bronze when they heard Cordelia's voice.

"Get off me you creepy little bloodsucker."

"Quick down here." called out Xander running down an alley.

'Show time.' thought Trinity and followed Xander down into the dark.

Cordelia was struggling against a vampire who held her from behind his face in full vamp mode. "Let me go!"

Trinity's body quivered with excitement and anticipation but when Willow and Xander glanced back at her, she was rooted to the spot, her face a mask of sheer terror.

"Xander here!" Willow shouted out throwing Xander a stake.

"Would you please stake this thing already!" Cordelia screamed.

Xander and Willow slowly crept up to the vampire, one either side, stakes held high. The vamp laughed and threw Cordelia into Xander and leapt for Willow who held her stake up.

Trinity suddenly felt a movement behind her. 'So there's two of you is there.' she thought to herself. Realising the others hadn't noticed it's presence, Trinity continued to play dumb innocent but took careful note of the wooden crate beside her.

Willow was struggling with the vampire but Xander had finally managed to untangle himself from Cordelia and ran towards them both. Raising his stake up he plunged it into the vampires unprotected back turning it into one big pile of dust. He turned to check up on Trinity just as the second vampire picked that moment to dive from his hiding place straight at her. Trinity braced herself for impact and heard Xander shout a warning seconds before the vamp struck her. Using his weight against him she purposely fell into the crate smashing it into handy stake size pieces. Rolling over so she was face to face with the vampire she took a quick second to look into it's feral yellow eyes and smirk before slamming a piece of wood straight into his heart. By the time his dust had settled, Trinity's face was already a picture of shock.

"Maria, are you all right?" Xander asked his face filled with concern.

Using Xander's out stretched hand, Trinity pulled herself to her feet and dusted herself down. "I'm fine thank you."

"How did you know how to kill that thing?" asked Willow suspiciously.

Trinity turned and looked seriously at Willow. "That was a vampire right. I mean Cordelia called it a bloodsucker and Xander killed it with a piece of wood. I am right aren't I?"

Willow nodded.

Trinity smiled nervously and sped up her speech. "I thought so, I mean after those clues it had to be right, I mean it's not rocket science is it you know what I mean?"

Xander put his hand on her shoulder. "It's ok you did good Maria."

"Great I always ruin more outfits when I hang out with you freaks then any other time. Well now you've got a new freak for you little gang I hope your satisfied." complained Cordelia storming out of the alley.

"Your welcome." Xander called after her.

Willow looked at Trinity and shrugged. "Welcome to Sunnydale."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Willow watched as Giles steadily wiped the blood from Buffy's face as she sat upon the library desk. She had seen Buffy hurt more times then she would care to remember but every time the feeling of fear that wrapped itself around her heart felt just as fresh and raw as the very first time. Her mind gave voice to her trepidation, 'one day she's going to be hurt so badly that it won't matter what we do, we just won't be able to save her.' What made the fear bite into her just that little bit deeper was that it wasn't just an unfounded worry. Slayers don't just die, they are killed. One day Buffy will find something that was simply just better then her. No ifs, no buts, just fact. 'How can a person possibly prepare themselves for their best friend's eventual death?' thought Willow. There was just no dealing with that. Looking around at the faces that surrounded her, she realised that maybe, just maybe, with the support and love that Buffy receives from her friends, she could possibly survive this or at least live longer then an average Slayer life. That is what separated her from the Slayers of the past after all. She would never be alone. It was a dim flicker of hope for Willow but one that she was more then willing to keep fuelling.

Willow gazed at Trinity. 'Could Maria possibly be another support for Buffy? Another ally in their war?' Seeing the anxious glances she flicked around the room and the tense stance of her body she began to severely doubt it until she recognised the movements from another certain frightened little redhead from not even two years ago. Staring at the others she started to see the changes that had come so subtly and yet so quickly to all of them. Xander stood a little straighter his face a picture of calm, a hint of a smile played on his lips. If she hadn't known him so well she might have missed the worry in his eyes as he too watched Buffy. Cordelia had been a surprise also. A person so self centred, so obsessed with creating her own perfection, still willing to come and help when asked. She might moan about it but the fact remains that when push comes to shove she was still there standing right by their side glaring at the darkness and bitching about their fashion sense. It made her wonder about how much she had changed also. She knew that Buffy felt a deep burning guilt about putting them in danger but she had done so much more then that. She had saved so much more then just their lives, and she had made them all better people in the process, even Giles she suspected. 'Could Maria really change too?' She asked herself. 'Could she, like us stand here a year later and kill the demons before joining her friends for a latte and a giggle afterwards?' Willow hoped more then anything that Trinity would find the strength in her to do just that.

What Willow didn't know though was Trinity had found that strength many years ago and sometimes it was that strength that caused her more worry then any demon. Right now though, it was the last thing on her mind. The tension that sang through her body was no longer an act but a widening chasm of doubt that was stretching inside her and all of it centred on Buffy. Well Buffy and her most recent bloody encounter.

Buffy took a sharp intake of breath.

"Sorry Buffy." apologised Giles before he continued to clean the slash along the edge of her jaw.

"So knobbly, brown, huge, covered in horns and above all gross." said Xander repeating Buffy's earlier words.

"That about covers it." replied Buffy wincing again as Giles taped a piece of gauze in place.

"It must have been strong Buffy. You're not exactly an easy target." Willow said.

"Quite so." agreed Giles. "I would say we were lucky to get away with our lives."

Buffy jumped from the desk, grimacing as she landed on her bruised limbs. "That thing was one tough cookie and I'm talking about the overcooked type."

"It does however seem to strike a chord in my memory somewhere, excuse me one moment I must go see if I can find a book." Giles wandered off into the stacks in search of his missing text.

Buffy turned and noticed Trinity slowly sitting down and placing her head in her hands. "God I'm so sorry Maria, with everything that has happened I almost forgot you've been through a lot too. How you holding up?"

Maria looked up and saw Buffy now sat opposite her. She smiled weakly before replying "I'm fine. Just a bit shook up"

Trinity wasn't lying about feeling spooked. There was no mistaking it; the demon that jumped Buffy tonight was defiantly Tynam. It matched his description and movements perfectly. It wasn't his arrival that had shocked her, in fact she had quite expected that and had just hoped either she could finish her business or stay out of his way until she had found the Stone. No, the shock was that she had quite expected to beat him. She knew she hadn't fared to well at their first meeting but Trin had put that down to putting too much attention on Alana's wellbeing. It had even strengthened her resolve for Alana to stay behind rather then come with her and be put on the frontline. She had thought though that once her full attention was placed on the fight she would easily beat him, even without a weapon forged in magic. With Buffy's defeat though came the realisation that this was one battle she had a high chance of losing, and with Tynam already here it was a battle quickly approaching too. 'How could I have been so stupid' she thought. 'I just did the one thing that I swore to myself I would never do. Underestimate an opponent no matter how weak they might appear. Have I really become that arrogant over time?' She knew that if Buffy hadn't run when she did both her and Giles would probably be dead now, and if Buffy could be that easily defeated what would happen when he finally caught up to her. 'I'm such an idiot.'

"Maria."

Trinity looked up and suddenly realised that Buffy had been calling her for the last few minutes.

"Sorry what did you say?"

Buffy looked up over her and gave a telling glance to Willow.

"Maybe I should make some tea." said Willow and wandered back into Giles office.

"You're not an idiot Maria. You were amazing so the others tell me. Staking a vamp on your first, ok impromptu, time out."

Trinity frowned. She hadn't even realised she'd spoken out loud. 'Get a hold of yourself before you blow the whole thing dumb ass.'

"Look you'll be fine. The world hasn't changed overnight; it just feels like it has. Trust me we've all been there. You'll get through it and we'll be there helping you all the way." Buffy smiled and put her hand on Trinity's. "Wow. You're freezing. Willow will be here with the tea in a moment. It's just the shock, the tea will help." She looked towards the office. "In fact I think I'll go give her a hand. I won't be a moment."

Maria sighed. 'Sure shock.' she thought. 'That or the whole undead thing.'

She twisted in her seat and saw Buffy and Willow talking with the occasional glance her way.

"Don't feel bad Maria, they're just worried about you. It's been quite a big night." said Xander drawing her attention back to the table.

"I would be more worried about Buffy. She looks quite beat up."

Xander laughed. "Nah Buff will be fine. Being a Slayer does come with benefits!"

Trinity nodded in acknowledgement. They had already explained the whole Slayer, demons and hellmouth to her earlier. She would have found it funny if her mind wasn't so occupied by more important things.

Giles voice wafted down from the stacks. "Ah here it is."

He walked down the stairs his head buried in a dusty blue leather bound book. Buffy and Willow wandered out from the office and Willow handed Trinity a cup of tea. "Here drink this; it'll help make you feeling a little better."

The girls took a seat and waited patiently for Giles to start his explanation.

"Ah yes." said Giles and cleared his throat. "The demon we encountered was called a Beastealcian demon or to translate a stalker demon."

Trinity's heart sank as the last bit of hope she had left that she was wrong about what they had fought quickly evaporated.

"There's not much information but hopefully this should be sufficient to go on." he continued. "It says here that the Beastealcian is attracted to items, places or people of high energy. It needs to absorb this energy to continue its existence much like a vampire and blood."

"So what we just let ourselves get really sleepy and this thing will go away?" Xander chipped in.

"Unfortunately not. When it says energy we must think more in terms of power. So I am guessing those with a somewhat high supernatural influence would be more attractive to it then those without.

"That would explain why it went for you Buffy." said Willow.

"Yes indeed it would. However it would need something to bring it here first and the only way that could be was if the place was high in power or an object was here or if it followed a victim."

"Well we live on a hellmouth so I'm guessing that's a pretty big power." Buffy concluded.

"Oh and that Stone thing we're looking for that could be it too!" Willow added.

Giles nodded. "Yes both are very likely reasons for its presence."

Buffy frowned. "Why would it follow someone? Why not just stay where it is and get snacks?"

"Normally it would, but if something crossed its path that the demon would consider highly desirable, for example someone like yourself Buffy, then the demon would stalk it until it could eat it. It says here that the power it would absorb would be like a booster to its own supernatural abilities making it an even more formidable opponent with each meal." Giles suddenly frowned. "Oh it says that it marks it's victims so that it can also sense their energy. It uses that energy like a trail to follow but also as a guide for when they are at their most powerful. I assume that it would wait for that energy trail to be quite high before attacking."

"Marked how?" asked Willow.

Giles scanned the pages. "It doesn't actually say."

"Great well I think the most pressing question here is how do I kill it?" Buffy asked.

"The only reference it says to killing it is 'The creature can only be destroyed with a weapon forged of the elementals and spirit'.

Buffy pulled a face of confusion. "Translation?"

Giles closed the book. "I think it must be referring to a magically made weapon though it would be helpful if it would let us know what type of weapon or magic to use or even if you must strike the demon in a certain spot on its being."

Buffy sighs. "Great so once again we're left in the 'don't have a clue' category."

Taking off his glasses to clean them Giles nodded in agreement. "I suggest maybe you should have a talk to Angel and find out what he knows. He very well may have happened upon one of these demons before."

"Spend night with Angel. Check."

Giles ignored the comment and turned to the others. "As for us, I will also continue looking into these Beastealcian demons. Willow and Xander I want you to look at what this Stone could possibly be. It may well be connected to this demon somehow."

"What! Why can't I go off to snuggle like Buffy does!" Xander moaned.

Buffy smiled. "It's not snuggling, it's an important research mission which involves some interrogation via kissing."

Giles turned to Trinity. "Would you care to help Maria?"

Trinity was about to give her full co-operation when she felt the all too familiar painful twist in her gut. Gasping she managed to stutter out. "I think I'm going to be sick." before stumbling out of the library towards the toilets.

"Do you think I should go after her? She looked really ill?" asked Willow.

Giles shook his head. "Give her a few minutes alone to let it all settle in, I think she's had quite a shock."

* * *

Trinity didn't so much as stumble through the toilet door but fell through it. She curled herself into a tight ball as a searing jolt of pain shot through her stomach and chest causing her to cry out. She lent her head against the cold tiles trying to cool the fire rushing through her head. Her muscles spasmed and once again she cried out in agony. Turning over she began to crawl on hands and knees towards the sink hoping to reach the cold water. Just as she began levering herself up, she began to cough deep racking coughs that burned through her lungs. She threw up the contents of her lungs and stomach into the sink before being able to take deep relaxing breaths once more. She rested her forehead against the mirror and turned on the cold tap, watching as the blood swirled in a circle before flowing down the plug hole. Trinity splashed her face with water and washed her mouth out desperately trying to rid herself of the copper tang lying on her tongue. Not for the first time she wondered why her own blood never tasted as sweet as those she drank from. When she felt as clean as she could she finally lifted her head and looked shakily in the mirror. Water dripped down her pale face like tears. Her eyes looked as empty and fragile as she felt and her voice was no more then a whisper. "These fits are killing me." 


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

It had been three days since Maria had staked the vamp in the alley and she had quickly settled into the familiar routine of research and patrol. Buffy had taken her out with Willow and Xander on her first night of patrol to teach her the fundamentals of vampire slaying. Giles had also used it as an opportunity to assess Buffy on her basic knowledge by hearing how she conveyed it to the others. Buffy had hoped that with all the fiasco the tests would be forgotten, but along with the school, Giles was far from forgetting them and had the tests continuing as planned much to her dismay. She had found though that Maria was a little bit of a natural when it came to the whole slaying gig. It was during their first night out that she had roundhouse kicked a vamp to the ground before staking it. Maria had quickly explained to the group of gaping mouths that she had years of martial arts experience in a variety of types. It was sort of instinct to react the way she did pretty much like the alley incident. She only started them to feel more secure about being left alone for weeks on end while her parents were on business. Buffy was delighted at the thought of possibly a new sparring partner to replace the grumpy old English man.

Though the nights had been fun having someone new to play with, Buffy was worried. They hadn't come across the Beastealcian demon again but that just made her wonder what it was getting up to. They also were coming up blanks with research on this mysterious Stone. She itched to get it sorted so she could relax a little and focus on more important things like for example the yummy vampire stood next to her.

Angel smiled down at the Slayer. "Hi."

"Hey! Pull up a couch!" said Buffy returning the smile and shifting over.

Willow and Xander moved along the couch, Xander muttering under his breath with every movement.

Angel sat down and slipped his hand in Buffy's. "Where's this new girl Maria then?"

"Oh she came Bronzing with us for a bit but she couldn't stop yawning so she called it a night." said Willow.

"I'm not surprised she was tired really. It's been crazy these last few days." added Buffy.

"Oh." Angel said quietly.

Buffy noticed the slight frown developing on his brow. "What's up?"

Angel sighed. "I'm not sure we can trust her."

Now it was Buffy's turn to frown. "And why not?"

Angel could sense he was starting to wade into dangerous conversational waters. "It's just that she came out of nowhere, manages to stake a vamp with no problems even though she didn't know they even existed beforehand and then just to add gloss to the product she happens to be a martial arts expert who has been a real help on your patrols. You've only known her a few days Buffy and she's already deeply involved with your inner circle of friends. That's a dangerous place to be keeping a stranger especially in our line of work."

His comments were greeted by an uncomfortable silence.

"I'm thirsty! You thirsty Xander? Come on let's go get a drink." said Willow jumping off the couch.

"I'm fine." said Xander who hadn't moved an inch.

"No you're not." she scowled

Xander noticing the evil glare he was getting reluctantly got up and wandered over to the bar with Willow.

"You don't trust my judgement is that it?" Buffy quietly said.

"You know that's not it Buffy, but she could be really smart and have us all fooled."

"Oh and I'm not smart."

"Buffy…"

"Angel I've been doing this a long time and I've met a lot of people, good and bad. I know when someone is evil and I just don't sense it with her. Yeah ok she might be hiding secrets but which of us haven't over the time."

"You knew we weren't evil though."

Buffy shook her head. "No I didn't. I didn't know if you were good. You never told me you were a vampire when we first met and I'd say that's a pretty damn big secret, but I still gave you the benefit of the doubt even after I found out."

"Things worked out well that time though, this time it could different!"

"And it could be the same!"

Angel sighed. "Look I'm just saying be careful!"

Buffy stood up. "Ok fine you want to meet Maria and decide for yourself come on then." Buffy turned and stormed out of the club.

"Buffy!" called Angel as he followed her. "I don't need to meet her now, just one day I would like to."

Buffy ignored him and carried on winding her way through the crowds.

"Buffy!"

Willow and Xander watched as Buffy stormed out of the Bronze, Angel closely following behind.

"Well that didn't look good." said Xander.

Willow sipped her drink. "Nope not good at all."

* * *

Trinity wandered through the cemetery on her way home. She was tempted to stay out and burn off some more energy knowing going to bed while this lively would be a nightmare all on its own. She could perhaps stake a couple of vamps, have a nose around. She had already fed off some vamp that must have been a jock once upon a time. She was absolutely stuffed. It was one of the bonuses to being her sort of demon a sort of… half breed. She needed blood to survive like all vampires but instead of taking it from swine, which was as about, as pleasant as it sounded, she could take it from a vamp. The only snag with that situation was it must have fed in the last day. She knew she was still basically drinking human blood and for someone like her that could be risky. It would be like a recovering alcoholic drinking vodka out of a milk carton. Packaging might be different but the stuff inside's still the same. It could lead to problems if she didn't have good self control but that's the one thing she did have. Decades of practiced and honed self control. In the end though Trinity only did it to feed both her sides at once, her vampire need for the kill and fresh, human blood and her human need for another dead vampire. Taking the blood always kills the demon. She didn't know why as in theory a vampire could live without blood if you could call a walking, mindless skeleton living, but as soon as she drank them dry, they would be dust within minutes. Trinity shrugged off the thoughts. None of the why really mattered, just the fact they died permanently was enough to satisfy her curiosity.

She had just dropped down to the other side of the huge cemetery gates when she heard voices whispering in the dark of a doorway to her left. Stealthily she crept nearer trying to catch what they were saying.

"Tynam just wanted information, he said he'd pay good." said a whiney voice

"I don't care what he said you idiot! He's a Beastealcian demon you get that? It doesn't matter that we're demons too he can still eat us."

"Yeah but…"

"But nothing! Why the hell would he pay a meal for information? He'd just get what he wants and then kill you!"

"Well maybe we could sell the info on elsewhere. Someone's got to want to know this."

"Look just forget you ever heard it ok."

Trinity took that opportunity to make an appearance. "Why hey there guys."

"Who the hell are you?" said a guy fully vamped out with a head of spiky brown hair.

"I'm a buyer." she replied.

A mini version of the taller spiky vampire frowned. "A buyer of what?" This one was the possessor of the whiney voice.

Trinity vamped out. "Information."

Both sets of eyes widened as a matching pair of fangs and forehead furrows to their own appeared.

"Now I hear you know my old pal Tynam." Trinity rushed forward and grabbed the little one by his collar. "I want to know everything he wanted to know and I want to know it now."

"Hey back off!" called out the bigger vamp and lunged forward.

Trinity pulled out a stake and whipped it up just in time for the vampire to impale himself on it.

The bigger vamp looked into the younger vampires eyes. "See I told you they'd kill for it." Then he exploded into a pile of dust.

The younger vampire's eyes got even wider and stared at the air where his friend once was.

"I'm waiting." said Trinity calmly as she returned her face back to its human side.

"I, I can't. Please!" stuttered the vampire.

"I'm starting to get pissed off."

"No wait, ok I'll tell you but I don't get why everyone wants to know!"

* * *

Buffy and Angel stood in the shadows and watched the action in the dark across the road take place. They had been on their way to Maria's when they heard the argument happening. Turning down the street to find out what was going on, they saw a woman talking to the two men before one made a sudden movement and proceeded to explode into dust. Buffy and Angel glance at each other before taking a position nearer and listening in.

* * *

Trinity let the vampire go and he backed up against the door.

"Ok all I heard was there was a group of Beastealcian demons in town and they…"

"Wait! A group?" interrupted Trinity.

The vampire nodded his head rapidly. "Yeah yeah, Tynam, Aspen and some other guy I don't know yet."

Trinity cursed under her breath. "Ok carry on what did they want?"

"They want two things. The firsts a girl."

"I know that already, what's the second?"

"It's a Stone, a red Stone with a sword through it. I think they called it the Alree… Altee…"

"The Althea Stone."

The vampire grinned. "Yeah that's the one!"

"What do you know about it?" Trinity asked.

"Nothing, I swear it!"

"Then what did you need to tell Tynam?"

"I know someone who knows where it is."

Trinity frowned her stomach churning with anticipation. "Who knows?"

"A guy named Willy. Willy the Snitch. He runs a demon bar in town."

Trinity nodded slowly. "I know it. That's everything?"

"The vampire smiled and nodded back.

"Fine. Thank you." Trinity pulled out a stake.

"Hey! You said you'd let me live!" panicked the vampire.

Trinity shook her head. "No. No I didn't."

* * *

Buffy and Angel watched as the girl staked the vampire and walked off round the corner. They jumped up to try and catch a glimpse of her face. As Buffy rose though she snagged her jacket on a trash can lid nearby and sent it crashing to the floor.

"Dammit!" shouted Buffy and giving up the secretive approach, raced around the corner to hopefully get some answers of their own out of her. As the couple reached the next road though, the girl was nowhere to be seen.

"She's gone." said Angel scanning the streets.

Buffy looked up at him. "Do you know the Althea Stone?"

"No never heard of it. I'll head home now though and see what I can dig up."

Buffy sighed with disappointment. "I guess we call it a night then. Maria can wait for another time I suppose.

Angel leant down and gently kissed Buffy on the lips. "She'll still be there to interrogate tomorrow."

Buffy smiled and playfully punched him. "Leave her alone."

Angel returned her smile before turning around and walking into the shadows.

Buffy had barely walked two steps before she heard him calling her again.

Turning she looked at the dark shape in the night. "What?"

"Maria. You said she was English didn't you?"

Buffy nodded.

"If you didn't realise already, that girl tonight, she was English too."

* * *

Trinity had barely turned the corner before she heard a crashing and the Slayers voice calling out in frustration. Ducking down into an alley she watched as a moment later the Slayer and a tall dark man ran around the corner. She froze as their eyes swept over her but didn't settle on her hiding spot. Listening to their conversation she realised how close she had come to being found out. As they prepared to leave, Trinity sighed with relief. It caught in her throat though as the man bent down into the light to kiss Buffy softly on the lips. Her stomach flipped and she froze again as fear rushed through her every muscle and joint. She sat there tensed to run if necessary and watched as the couple parted and walked away. When he made the connection between Maria and herself seconds later, for the first time it wasn't Buffy she was frightened of finding out. No it was the fact he knew and that he had said her name which terrified her.

When they both finally disappeared into the night, her muscles suddenly relaxed and she fell onto the floor and slumped against the wall, exhausted, as if she had been running for hours. All the running she had been doing was in her head though she didn't know if she would have had the courage to even move if he had found her. She screwed her eyes shut and pushed her fists into them willing herself not to cry. 'Not here, not now please.' She screamed in her head. 'Not Angelus.'


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

"Right, well so far neither Angel nor I have managed to come up with anymore information as such on the Althea Stone other then that we already know. It's a Stone of great power. As to what that power is, I haven't got a clue. I have called the council though and I am expecting to hear from them later." explained Giles.

"Is that it? I thought having a name would at least help a bit." said Buffy.

"Yes well unfortunately so did I."

"What about the girl?" asked Willow.

"Well all we know about her is she is obviously strong and she is English. If the vampires are frightened of her, then I would also hazard a guess that she wouldn't be someone to trifle with."

"How can you trifle someone? Do you just add jelly and sprinkles or is there more to it?" Xander pondered.

"Yeah there's custard too!" Willow added.

"Yes." said Giles ending the conversation before it branched off into another one of their teenage babbling sessions. "Well there was another reason I wanted to see you today. Buffy I wanted to tell you in light of the recent events, as of today your assessments are over."

"Woo!" shouted Buffy. "Mochas on me!"

Xander grinned. "Go Giles! Give her some more good news and we might get doughnuts too!"

Willow frowned. "I thought they weren't due to finish till next week though?"

"Willow! Don't start reminding him of that! He says we're done so be satisfied." scolded Buffy.

Giles shook his head. "No Willow's right, they were meant to finish next week but with this research on the Stone something about the power of it has been brought to my attention."

"You mean they didn't just end because I aced everything." Buffy pouted.

"Most certainly not!"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" she frowned.

"It means we have something far more pressing on our hands."

"Oh is it to do with that big demony killer thing again because I'm getting bored with that." Xander said.

Giles shook his head. "I wish it was, unfortunately though I'm afraid it appears we might have another apocalypse on our hands."

"An apocalypse?" Trinity exclaimed.

Buffy sighed. "Ah darn it."

* * *

"Angelus!"

Trinity sighed into the phone. "Yeah."

"Isn't that the guy who…"

"Yeah." said Trinity again cutting Alana off mid-sentence.

"You've got to leave Trin. It's bad enough that Tynam's brought friends but now Angelus too!"

"I can't. I'm so close to it now. Another day or so and this will all be over."

"Sure but what we don't know is if you'll still be alive at the end of it."

Trinity stayed silent, a million thoughts running through her head at once.

"There's something else isn't there Trinity."

"Buffy."

"The Slayer?" asked Alana.

"Do you think she knows about Angelus?" Trinity rubbed her eyes. "They were kissing for god's sake! This can't be another one of his games can it? Even if he pretends not to be Angelus he can't pretend to be human."

"You're worried about her."

"Yeah. I am."

"She's the Slayer Trin. Quit worrying about her and think about yourself for once."

"I am thinking of myself remember. I'm here for the Stone and then I'm gone. No tearful goodbyes or promises of writing I'll just disappear. Till then all I can do is keep out of Tynam's and Angelus's way."

"And get some rest." added Alana. "I bet that's why you've been ill again these past few days."

"How the hell did you know that? I swear if I catch your butt…" shouted Trinity.

"Don't worry I'm not in Sunnydale." she interrupted. "You hadn't brought it up so I knew you can't have been doing well."

Trinity let the silence stretch between them again.

"Trin?"

"I'm fine Alana, don't worry. They come and go, I deal, it's not a problem."

"Sure." said Alana disbelievingly.

Trinity heard a loud knocking at the door. "I got to shoot, Buffy's here."

"What's Buffy doing there? Do you think that's wise with Angelus around?"

"No but I can't disappear yet. Look I'll call you later. Look after yourself."

Maybe you should take your own advice."

"Sure." answered Trinity and put the phone down.

Another knock sounded at the door. Trinity hurry over to it and opened it. "Hey Buffy sorry about that."

"No worries." said Buffy as she followed Trinity into the house. "This is a nice place."

"Thanks. Let me grab my jacket. We heading over to Willy's tonight?"

Buffy tore herself from staring into the living room. "Uh no. Giles wants to wait until daylight so the bar will be empty. Don't want to alert the locals to it's where a bout's too." 'Or you for the moment.' she thought afterwards.

* * *

"Well they're defiantly frisky tonight." remarked Buffy.

"Yeah." agreed Trinity. "Don't think I realised there were quite so many vampires about. Do they normal run in packs?"

"Sometimes but not normally. I think all this stuff with the Stone and the big bad demon group in town has got them all riled up though.

"Do you think that the Stone is really powerful enough to destroy everything?"

Buffy shrugged. "I don't know, even Giles isn't sure but with this kind of thing its better to act safe then sorry. We've just got to find it before the bad guys do."

"What happens if the bad guys get there first?"

Buffy held up her stake.

"Got it." answered Trinity. Catching movement out of the corner of her eye, Trinity turned to see two vampires winding their way through the graves towards them.

"Buffy, vamps." said Trin nodding in their direction.

"Here we go again." said Buffy and lowered herself into a fighting stance.

Trinity slid into one of her own and locked eyes with her opponent.

"Maria!" Buffy called out and Trinity turned just in time to see a vampire before it slammed into her sending her flying onto her back.

Buffy ran to help her only to be greeted by the other two vampires. "Slayer." they said in greeting.

Trinity cried out as the vamp quickly darted in and bit her sharply while using his upper body weight to pin her arms down.

"Maria!" Buffy shouted out again desperately trying to find an opening between the vampires circling her. They weren't stupid, they knew as soon as their friend was finished it would be three against one.

The vampire only managed a few mouthfuls of blood before his head darted back snarling.

"You." he growled.

"Yeah me." Trinity said back before hooking her legs under him and sending him flying backwards.

Standing up she winced as she touched the bleeding bite mark on her neck.

"Buffy saw Maria stand up. "Are you ok?"

"Fine but the bastard bit me."

Trinity glared at the vampire climbing to his feet. "Now I'm pissed off" she muttered and ran towards him bringing out a stake at the same time.

The vampire blocked her arm and pushed her away sending her stumbling back a few paces. Before Trinity had time to recover he had landed a kick in the centre of her stomach causing her to crumple to the ground. Trinity cursed under her breath as she heaved herself to her feet. Just those few sips of her blood and he was already so much stronger. Her ability of being able to drink the blood of the dead was a double edge sword. They could feed off her just as easily and her blood was nothing but pure power, and power was addictive. She knew that when she had offered herself up to Tynam. She knew he would sense the power, sense that there was nothing else in this world like it. All demons craved the power she had flowing freely in her.

Trinity rushed the vampire again and feigned a punch to his left while swinging her fist into the right of his head sending him crashing to the floor. He grabbed her foot attempting to pull her to the floor with him but instead Trinity back flipped bringing her foot up under his chin causing his head to snap back, something that would have killed him instantly if he had been human. As she landed though, the vampire swept her feet from under her bringing her down anyway.

Buffy whipped round to face her last vampire having just succeeded in staking the other. This one was the tougher of the two and definitely a trained fighter at some point. She risked a glance at Maria and felt her stomach flip as she saw Maria on the floor clutching her stomach in pain. 'Come on Maria. Get up and fight.' she prayed and then turned her attentions back to her opponent.

Trinity gritted her teeth as another spasm went through her muscles making her clutch tighter to her stomach. 'Not now.' she thought as sweat dripped off her brow.

"You're not looking so good." commented the vampire stood by her. His foot lashed out catching her in the ribs. Trinity managed to defuse most of the power behind it by rolling with the kick but it still hurt like hell. Seconds later the vampire was stood by her again. Crouching down, he grabbed her by her jacket collar and hauled her to her feet, smiling as he did it. "You're not as powerful as I thought" he spat into her face.

"Really." gasped Trinity. "Because your as stupid as I thought." She pulled her hand from behind her revealing the stake she had hidden there.

The vampire caught sight of it and proceeded to throw her away from him but it was too late. Trinity smiled as his eyes widened as the wood pierced his heart turning him into a swirl of dust.

Trinity tumbled to the floor where she coughed up the blood filling her lungs. A hand lay gently on her back rubbing in soothing circles. When she had finished she wiped her mouth and turned to see Buffy smiling with worried eyes.

"What happened to the other vamp?" asked Maria croakedly.

"You staking his friend became a convenient distraction for me. He's dust. You ok?"

Trinity nodded. "Yeah, just got dead guy dust in my mouth. Wasn't the most pleasant of thoughts."

"You did good Maria. For a moment I wasn't too sure…" Buffy said trailing off.

"If I could do it." Trinity finished for her, climbing to her feet. "Neither did I… for a moment."

Buffy linked her arm through Trinity's. "Come on I'll walk you back home."

Trinity blinked not used to such close contact. Unsure of what else to do Trinity nodded her head and the two of them started walking.

* * *

"Maria. Don't look but we're being followed." Buffy whispered under her breath. "I don't know what it is but we're just going to keep on walking and go straight to yours. When we get there go in and lock the door and don't answer it to anyone."

Trinity stayed silent and Buffy took that as an agreement.

"It's most likely a peeved vamp and if it is then I want to know what it wants. You'll be safer out the way."

The girls carried on their silent walk through the dark streets punctuated by the harsh glow of a street light. They were on the path to Trinity's front door when the demon finally decided to reveal itself through a deep growl.

"Get indoors." shouted Buffy and pushed Maria towards the door.

Maria cursed under her breath and grabbed her keys pretending to fumble with the lock to keep an eye on Buffy. She looked over her shoulder and watched in horror as Tynam came sliding into the light and faced Buffy.

"Crap." Trinity muttered and opened the door slamming it behind her. She leaned against it panting for a moment listening to the muffled sounds of the Slayer and the demon talking. Turing around she looked through the spy hole of the door and saw Buffy and Tynam circling.

"Run Buffy, come on run." pleaded Trinity.

Tynam shot forward so quickly that Trinity almost missed it. He slammed into Buffy and sent her sprawling to the floor. Buffy flipped herself back to her feet and sent a roundhouse kick spinning towards his face. He brushed the kick away as if she had done no more then flick her fingers at him and then back handed her across the face. Buffy fell to the floor where she lay very still.

"Get up!" Trinity shouted slamming her hand against the door.

Tynam bent down over Buffy and ran his nails lightly over her body, stroking the energy he could feel pouring over her.

Trinity screamed in frustration and flung open the door. She sprinted down the path and launched herself into a flying kick, impacting solidly into Tynam's side. He stumbled away and looked around in shock. His face quickly pulled itself into a smile as he glanced down at Trinity.

"Well well. So you finally decided to face me."

"What's he talking about Maria?" said Buffy who had finally risen to her feet behind Trinity.

Tynam burst into a fit of guttural laughter. "You're keeping secrets from the Slayer! That's dangerous business for a demon."

Trinity cursed in her head. She knew facing Tynam like this would cause trouble and with Buffy here to witness it all, the gig was well and truly up.

"I'm not a demon. I'm human!" Trinity shouted. 'Well mostly.' she thought afterwards.

She ran towards Tynam and threw a punch. He grabbed her arm and twisted it up and backwards, using the momentum though, Trinity carried on twisting round and kicked out backwards forcing Tynam to let go of her arm so he could catch his balance. Buffy ran past Trinity and kicked Tynam squarely in his gut making him fall back further clutching his stomach.

Tynam roared in anger and pain. "I'm tired of waiting for you. I'm hungry."

He rushed forward just as quick as the last time, throwing Buffy out of the way and managing to grab Trinity around the throat, heaving her off the ground. Trinity gagged and pulled at his fingers trying to release herself. This only made him dig his nails deep into her flesh causing warm streams of blood to run down her throat. Using his arm to raise herself higher, Trinity tried to kick at his body but the spikes that covered his body saved him from her causing him any pain or damage. Air wasn't an issue for Trinity but he was beginning to crush her throat. If she didn't get free soon it was likely he would rip her head free of her shoulders.

Tynam suddenly let out another roar and swung round to face Buffy while still holding Trinity. Trinity winced as his nails shifted in her throat.

"You want to stick things into each other, then that's just fine." Tynam growled. Raising his arm up the long spike suddenly appeared. Trinity felt as if everything had slowed down. Buffy called out her name, as Trinity tripled her struggling to pull herself free from his grasp. Tynams arm shot in a downward arch, the spike pressed at the skin of her stomach before punching through. It tore through muscles and organs on an upward journey before pushing through out of her back in level with her chest. Trinity gave a small strangled cry before Tynam tugged himself free of her body again. She felt herself go limp as her energy left her body. Tynam had barely sipped from her but it was enough to know that when the time came for him to finish the job she would hope she was unconscious. Tynam decided to release her and dropped her body on the street like a broken doll. He turned his attention back onto Buffy.

"Don't worry Slayer. She's alive. I haven't finished my meal yet."

Buffy screwed her face up in rage and threw a barrage of attacks at him. Most of her kicks and punches hit their mark, none of them had an effect. Panting and exhausted Buffy backed up desperately trying to come up with a game plan. Tynam bet low and began to move forward when his eyes went wide and he called out in agony once again. Turning round he found himself face to face with a bleeding and unsteady Trinity.

Buffy could see from the back what she had done, she had pushed the stake Buffy originally put there deep into the flesh of his back, so deep his skin almost enveloped it.

Trinity swung a punch towards Tynam but he easily caught it. Lifting his leg up he stamped hard onto her knee joint. Trinity cried out as the joint made noise and shifted in ways it was never supposed to. While Trinity was distracted with pain, he threw her into the side of a parked car setting the alarm off blaring loudly.

Buffy ran forward and kicked the stake in even deeper until it was embedded out of sight into the demons body. Tynam fell to his knees growling in pain. Turning around he saw the Slayer with a look of anger and pure determination across her face.

"We'll finish this later" he managed to spit out between snarls. Raising to his feet he quickly took off down the street and faded into the dark.

"Oh god Maria." Buffy raced over to the crumpled heap by the car.

She stroked her hair out of her face and checked all her vital signs. 'I can't find a pulse' she thought panicking. She was started to prepare herself for resuscitation.

"Don't bother."

Buffy looked up startled. "Maria? You're ok?"

Trinity started coughing and blood started to pour down her chin. "I wouldn't go as far as saying I'm ok." she rasped out.

Buffy's eyes widened at the blood pouring down Trinity's jaw. "We've got to get you to a hospital."

Trinity tried to rise her hand up but it just caused pain to shoot through her chest. "No, no hospitals."

"Maria this isn't funny you could die!"

"I'm not joking. No hospitals."

"You need to…"

"No!" Trinity shouted causing her to have another coughing fit. "You're as bad as Alana." she muttered.

"Who's Alana?"

Trinity shook her head. "No one."

"Well why then Maria. I need a damn good reason to watch you bleed to death on the street." glared Buffy.

"I can give you two. First, I'm not going to die." Trinity gasped. "And two, hospitals only treat humans."

"The Beastealcian wasn't lying. You're a demon." Buffy slumped down next to Trinity.

"Yes and no. It's a long story and to be quite honest I don't think I have the energy to tell it twenty times so help me up."

Trinity shifted into a sitting position, taking long, deep, calming breaths as she did.

"What are you doing?" asked Buffy getting to her feet.

"Going to Giles's so I can talk to everyone at once." she grunted. Trinity looked up at Buffy. "You deserve an explanation Buffy I know that."

Buffy reached down and grabbed Trinity under the arms bringing her to her feet. Trinity cried out in pain as her damaged body was forced to do things it didn't want to do.

"Damn you're a mess." commented Buffy quietly.

Once Trinity was upright, Buffy hooked her left arm over her shoulders. Already she could feel herself taking most of Trinity's weight. Trin's head hung down as she tried to steady herself and calm the fire roaring through her body. Gritting her teeth she hopped forward, her useless right leg dragging behind her. After a few steps Trinity stopped and focused pained eyes on Buffy's.

"I didn't come here to hurt anyone Buffy if that's what you're thinking. I might not be human but I'm on your side."

"All I'm thinking is that you're the girl me and Angel saw the other night."

Trinity let out a burst of laughter that sounded more like a sharp release of air as she winced with the pain. Dropping her head down she smiled. "Yeah." she said gritting her teeth again. "That was me."

The girls carried on walking, Trinity growing heavier with every step.

"Do you think we should have got Giles to pick us up?" asked Buffy.

"Probably."


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Buffy and Trinity stumbled up to Giles's home. Trinity only lived a short distance away from him but the easy journey had turned into a long arduous one for them both. When they were finally insight of the front door Trinity grimaced with pain.

"I'm sorry Buffy." she gasped as they finally reached the door. Buffy raised her hand and knocked urgently.

Trinity turned and looked at Buffy. "I think I might have to save the story for later."

Buffy was about to reply when Giles opened the door.

"Good Lord."

Trinity groaned and her head fell onto her chest. Buffy suddenly found herself carrying all of her weight.

"Giles help me, I can't balance her."

Giles rushed forward and picked Trinity up in his arms like a child. "What happened?" he quickly asked. "Are you hurt." he said straight after noticing Buffy's blood stained shirt.

Buffy ran her hand through her hair and followed Giles as he rushed to put Trinity down on the desk. "I don't think so." She swept her hand over the surface clearing it of the few items there were then grabbed a cushion off the sofa and placed it under her head.

"The Beastealcian found us." Buffy explained.

Giles raised Trinity's shirt and saw the gaping hole in her stomach.

"Oh god." gasped Buffy. "I knew she was hurt but I didn't realise."

"We need to get an ambulance now." Giles said picking up the phone.

"No Giles wait." Buffy said grabbing his arm. "She said no hospitals. She said… she said she's not human."

Giles slowly replaced the phone. "What?"

"She said to bring her here and get everyone together and she would explain everything. She even apologised for passing out before getting the chance to explain, in front of your door."

Giles stood in silence.

"Giles?"

"Call the others then get some warm water, fresh towels and the medical kit in the kitchen."

Buffy turned to get started.

"Buffy." Giles said steadily. "Even if she is a demon, I don't know if can fix this."

Buffy gave him a small smile. "I know you'll do your best."

* * *

Giles wandered down the stairs and sat on the sofa, exhausted.

"How is she?" asked Willow.

Giles shrugged and shook his head. "It's hard to say. She's still unconscious. I fixed what I could and put her knee back in place but I can't repair organ damage and without x-rays I don't know what damage has been done to her knee or the rest of her for that matter. The best thing I can do for her now is let her rest and wait for her to hopefully wake up."

Buffy walked into the room from the bathroom. "I threw the towels in the trash and wiped down the desk." She was sporting an over-sized t-shirt, much like Trinity was upstairs, to replace her ruined one.

"Thank you Buffy." said Giles taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.

"I can't believe she's a demon!" exclaimed Xander. "I did not see that one coming."

"I don't think any of us did." said Willow.

"One of us did." Buffy said quietly. "Angel said he didn't trust her, that he thought there was more to the picture." she shrugged. "I guess he was right."

"That's not your fault Buffy, you weren't to know." comforted Willow.

"It is my fault though. I should have known but instead all I did was shout at Angel and put all your lives in danger."

"I think you'll find she had us all fool Buff." Xander said.

"Anyway she's a good demon isn't she? You said yourself she saved your life and told you she was on your side." Willow added.

"That's not the point though is it! What if she wasn't!"

"Well." interrupted Giles. "If she is on the side of good then you did your job just fine Buffy. It's not your duty to sort out the demons from humans but the good from evil. You let her in because you felt she was fundamentally good."

Buffy sighed and nodded her head. "I guess. In a way it's good thing she wasn't human or she'd be dead now."

"There you go! That's how you look on the bright side!" grinned Xander.

"Let's call it a night then. You all have school in the morning and we have a long day ahead of us. Tomorrow Buffy I want you to take Angel and Xander and talk to Willy. Willow if you wouldn't mind I would like to look more into these Beastealcian demons. If it is Maria they are after then she might know more about them so keep your fingers crossed she wakes up sooner rather then later. Either way though they will track her again so we need to prepare ourselves. The stone is also top of our agenda. If the general demon population knows about this stone then we could find ourselves in a lot of trouble. We need to get this sorted once and for all."

* * *

"Has she woken yet?"

"No." said Buffy. "Giles took the day off to keep an eye on her but all he said was there had been no change."

Angel sighed. "Do you at least know what type of demon she is?"

"Not the foggiest. She passed out before she could really tell us anything."

Angel took Buffy's hand. "Just promise me you'll be careful around her."

Buffy stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to Angels. "Don't worry I will be." she whispered passed them.

"Guys! Please! Getting ill over here!" Xander called out.

The couple parted and looked a little sheepish if a bit pleased too.

"Right lets go see what Willy has to say." Buffy said crossing the street to the demon bar.

"Oh can I be bad cop?" Xander asked.

"You can be no cop." growled Angel.

"Hey who died and made you boss other then yourself."

"Boys play nice." scolded Buffy.

She pushed open the door and walked into the smoky atmosphere. Silence enveloped the place as every demon eye turned and looked at the Slayer and her friends.

"Gee hi there Buffy!" stuttered Willy the Snitch behind the bar.

"Hey Willy" replied Buffy.

As she walked to the bar a few of the demons quickly got up and left. She could see Willy visibly wincing as his clientele walked out the door for probably ever. A Slayer never did do his business much good.

"What can I do for you?"

"We want information now!" shouted Xander slamming his fist on the bar.

"Down boy." said Buffy shooing him back. "We want to know all you know on the Althea Stone." she said lowering her voice.

"The Althea Stone. Boy now that's a popular topic."

"Spill it or I spill you." growled Xander leaning forward.

"You want to teach that kid how this works. If I'm giving out the information already he doesn't need to threaten me."

"Don't worry we will have words." Buffy said glaring at Xander.

Angel smirked at the boys telling off.

"Right yeah the Althea Stone. Well I don't know much. It's got a sword through it…"

Yeah we know that." interrupted Buffy. "A red stone with a sword through it."

"No no you got it all wrong. It's not red it's crimson. That's very important.

"Crimson?" questioned Xander. "Isn't that just red in a different shade?"

"Yeah it is but crimson has a deeper meaning here. Crimson can sometimes be used to mean blood."

"A bloodstone." said Angel

"You got it Angel my man. Blood means power so a bloodstone means…"

"A hell of a lot of power." Buffy finished for him.

"Precisely." grinned Willy. "That's all I know about it though."

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Really because we've heard you know where it is."

Willy shrugged. "Well yeah sort of but not exactly. I hear it's near the hardware store near the cinema. That's all I got for you."

Angel leaned forward. "Tell me this then Willy. You've never been this helpful in your life. Why the change of heart now?"

Willy glanced around nervously. "You hear about those Beastealcian demons?"

The trio nodded.

"Yeah well they're bad news of the uber bad kind. I don't want those kind of things in my place. They'll clear a place out quicker then a Slayer." he said looking pointedly at Buffy before continuing. "Those things don't discriminate against who they eat they'll devour humans and demons alike and that makes them dangerous. I figure if I spread this news around about the Stone then the Beastealcians won't need to come here to get there information. They can get it anywhere."

"Alright then." sighed Buffy. "Thanks Willy."

The group turned and walked through the door.

"I can understand why he did it but by telling all the demons about the Althea stone he's put us in a tougher situation. Who knows how many are looking for it." said Buffy.

"Or who might have found it already." added Xander.

Right I'll give Giles a call and let him know what we found then I think we should check out the hardware store."

* * *

"Yes alright then Buffy. Please check in when you're done."

Giles placed the phone back in the cradled.

"What did she say?" asked Willow eagerly.

"She said that they think the Stone might be hidden near the hardware store so they are going to check it out now. She also told us that we might do better to research about crimson or bloodstones, Willy mentioned something about the Stone being one of those."

Willow opened her mouth to ask another question when she was suddenly distracted by a creaking on the stairs. "Maria!"

Trinity smiled weakly as she walked down the stairs at a snails pace, her knuckles white from gripping on the banister.

Giles stood up and rushed over to her. "Maria you should be in bed resting. You've sustained some quite lethal injuries."

"I'm fine" she said then hissed with pain as she jolted her side. "Or not." she gasped. "Either way I'm not one for lying in bed all day.

Giles placed her arm over his shoulders and helped her walk the rest of the way to the couch. She grimaced as he placed her down as gently as he could.

"How long was I out for?"

"A day" answered Giles. "How are you feeling?"

Trinity glanced down. "I think I'd rather not answer that."

She glanced around the room. "Where's Buffy?"

"She had to go out." said Giles.

Trinity didn't ask again. She knew she didn't deserve a further explanation at that moment. An uncomfortable silence began to spread over the room.

"I guess I've got a bit of explaining to do." Trinity finally said.

"I would say you've got a lot more then a bit." said Giles. "You can start while I check those injuries over."

Trinity carefully shifted herself on the couch until she was lying down. Even that small movement left her panting with pain and exhaustion and she closed her eyes before talking again. "I don't know where to start really."

"What type of demon are you?" Willow blurted out.

Trinity cracked an eye open. "I guess that's as good a place as any. The answer is I don't know." she closed her eyes again. "I was born this way and strictly speaking I'm not a full demon. I'm only a half breed. It gives me some extra bonuses you know the three S's. Speed, strength and senses. I do get a bit of a quicker healing ability and I'm harder to kill but I'm still not that powerful when you stick me next to an average demon."

Trinity cried out as Giles touched the wound across her stomach.

"My apologise." said Giles

"That's alright." gasped Trinity.

"The Beastealcian demon. He said he was waiting for you." Giles said.

Trinity nodded. "Yeah."

She hissed loudly as Giles rolled up the leg of the jogging bottoms she was wearing.

"God that hurts." she said through gritted teeth. "The Beastealcian Buffy met before and the one that attack us, his name is Tynam." she continued. "He's not here for the Stone. He's here for me."

Giles sighed. "I suspected as much from what Buffy told me. What I don't quite understand is how he managed to mark you in the first place?"

"I let him." she replied quietly.

"Let him!" exclaimed Willow.

Trinity shrugged. "A friend, a human, she was marked by him. I helped her out."

"Ah I think I understand. The demons only allowed one victim marked at a time so you exchanged your life for hers."

"Yes. All I asked was he gave me the night to look after Alana though it ended up being the other way round. I fared about the same that time as the last time we met."

"How did he mark you?" asked Willow.

"A tattoo, On my back. It came from this brown sludge in his nail. He sliced me open and poured it in."

Willow screwed up her nose in disgust."

"I noticed that tattoo last night. I would like to take a better look if that's ok but first I need to try and bend this knee to see if it's back in place." Giles told her gently.

Trinity nodded her head quickly. "Just do it."

Giles lifted her leg up and pushed against her foot gently. Trinity cried out gasping ragged breathes one after another. She dug her hands into the couch and threw her head back gritting her teeth. Sweat from the exertion began to pour from her and when she thought she couldn't possibly take anymore she screamed out. "Enough please enough."

Giles lowered her leg onto some cushions to support it. Trinity let out a deep breath she didn't even realise she had been holding and collapsed as all her muscles relaxed once more. Her eyelids started to droop as exhaustion took over.

"Maria stay with me." said Giles.

His voice sounded miles away to her. She could hear Willow asking Giles if she was ok and then she heard nothing more.

* * *

Buffy slammed her shoulder into the locked door of the hardware store. Hearing something crack, she twisted the handle and let herself in. Angel took one last glance over the deserted streets before following in after Buffy and Xander. They looked around the shop and on finding nothing they ventured into the back room. Xander wrinkled up his nose and covered up his mouth with his sleeve.

"Man what's that smell."

"I'm guessing it might be them." Angel said pointing to two heavily decomposed bodies propped up in the corner of the room.

"I guess that explains why this place always looks closed." commented Buffy. "It must mean we're in the right place though.

The group searched through the boxes in the storeroom and again came up with nothing.

"Now what?" asked Xander.

"Over there" said Angel pointing to a door obscured by some fallen boxes.

Buffy wandered over and cleared a path before pulling on the handle. It wasn't locked like the front door and so opened easily. She was about to step out when Angel grabbed her pulling her back.

"Buffy. The floor."

Glancing down, Buffy could make out a wide hole directly in front of the door.

"Gee that could have been embarrassing." she exclaimed.

"I'll go down first and let you know if it's safe."

Buffy nodded her agreement and watched as Angel quickly jumped down into the dark. A few seconds later he called up to her to let her know it was safe.

Xander jumped down next quickly followed by Buffy. They took a couple of minute for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. The hole turned out to be barely over six feet deep, the darkness only fooled their eyes into believing it was deeper.

"There's a tunnel straight ahead though I can't make out where it leads." Angel told the others.

"Well there's only one way to find out." Buffy replied and began to follow the tunnel.

Before long the group could make out an orange glow ahead. As they drew nearer, they realised that the orange glow came from candle light. The tunnel opened up into a large circular room with a candle attached every few metres along the walls. Voices arguing echoed from the room. Crouching down the Buffy and Angel peered around the corner while Xander watched the entrance. Squinting from the light they saw a group of three Beastealcian demons stood bickering.

* * *

"The girl is mine. I have already marked her as so. We agreed on this before we came here. Aspen may have the Slayer and Craw can have the Stone. Why are you now disagreeing on this?"

"Because that was before I knew the stone was a dud." shouted the demon named Craw.

"It is not a dud. It just needs activating." Tynam said

"And who exactly is going to activate it? Every time we go near that thing the energy builds up too strongly. If we try to take it out it will be destroyed before we I have had a chance to feed."

"Why not just feed from it where it is?" questioned Aspen.

"You know why! The sword defuses the energy."

"Well Tynam. Surely we can just borrow the girl to activate it." said Aspen

Tynam smiled. "Yes I think that could work. Would that satisfy you Craw?

"Yes that would satisfy me greatly." agreed Craw.

* * *

Buffy felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. turning she saw Angel indicating they should leave. Hurriedly the group rushed as silently as they could out of the tunnel, helping each other to climb out of the hole and racing out into the street.

"Did you see the Stone?" asked Xander.

Both Angel and Buffy nodded.

"It's just as Willy said, a crimson stone with a sword through it." said Buffy.

Angel frowned. "It looks so familiar. I think I might have been researching in the wrong place."

"Smart move." commented Xander.

Angel turned to say something back when Buffy jumped in to defuse the situation.

"Ok Angel you go back home and find out what it is you think you've missed. Xander and I will go back to Giles and give him the update. I want to keep an eye on Maria too. I have a nasty feeling she's the girl the demons were talking about. When you've found everything you need to, meet us back at Giles's.

Angel agreed and the group quickly parted and hurried to their destinations.

* * *

Trinity woke with a jolt.

"Welcome back." said Giles standing over her.

"What? I…?" she asked her words slightly slurred. She looked down and noticed a blanket covering her and could feel a pillow behind her head.

"You blacked out again and I must apologise for it. I didn't intend to cause you so much pain."

The cobwebs in her mind gradually clear. "My knee."

"That's right." Giles answered. "I think it may be broken though I am fairly certain that the joint itself is no longer dislocated. The swelling made it hard to tell." Giles knelt beside her. "I looked at the markings on your back from Tynam while you were out. They are deeply embedded in your skin but I believe once the connection between you and him has been lifted they will fade."

Trinity nodded. "Good. If I get a tattoo I would at least like to pick the design."

Giles smiled. "Get some sleep, you need to rest."

Trinity didn't have the energy to argue and so closed her eyes and settled into the couch. Giles and Willows quietly mumbled conversation was only helping to lull her to sleep. She was just drifting off when she felt the familiar twinge in her stomach. Trin bolted upright and cried out, the pain of her injuries coupled with the pain of the cramps.

"Maria!" Giles called out as both he and Willow rushed over to her.

Trinity cried out again and dug her hands into her chest and stomach. She could feel hands grabbing at her trying to settle her but the pain was too intense. She was too hurt to cope with the attack.

She pushed past the hands and fell in a crumpled heap on the floor. She wanted something cold to soothe the burning and managed to gather her senses enough to think to crawl to the bathroom. She dragged herself along the floor with as much energy as she could muster stopping at points as her muscles spasmed and sent her folding in half. The hands still grabbed at her joined now by voices. She couldn't make sense of the words and continued to push away from the hands and towards the bathroom.

As soon as she hit the cool tiles, the world seem to get a little clearer. She could make out Giles and Willow stood above her, their faces plastered with worry.

"I'm going to be sick." she managed to gasp out and Giles helped her to the bath.

Clinging to the edge as if it was the last firm thing in the world, Trinity started the same old tired routine of coughing and throwing up all the blood she could possibly muster. When she was finished she slid to the floor and crawled into a shivering ball.

"Maria, can you hear me?"

Trinity squeezed her eyes shut and managed to say a single word out of her raw throat. "Yes."

He rested his hand against her skin and it felt like ice next to her. "You're burning up." he turned to the girl behind him. "Willow would you go and fetch a clean damp cloth please."

As Willow disappeared, he used a little water to wash the blood from her face and then carefully picked her up in his arms and carried her upstairs. Her body screamed out in pain with his every step but Trinity didn't have the energy to do much more then whimper. Willow entered the room just as he placed her in the bed. Taking the cloth from Willow he dabbed her face softly with it before laying it across her forehead cooling the burning within her skull.

"We need to bring this fever down." he muttered to himself. "I couldn't see any signs of infection earlier."

"There's not." Trinity said her voice barely a whisper. "The heat will pass soon enough."

Giles frowned. "You have had this happen before?"

"Not this bad." said Trinity in way of an answer. "It's fine. I get them very occasionally. It's nothing to worry about."

"I'm not so sure…" started Giles.

"Please. Just leave it." snapped Trinity. "Sometimes when my bodies too exhausted my demon side tries to do it's job and the human side can't keep up. It's rare so forget about it. Please."

Giles looked into her eyes. They were full of pain and exhaustion and were pleading with him to leave the situation be. "Ok, I will leave it for now, just get some rest."

He stood and walked over to where Willow was waiting by the door. By the time he had got there, Trinity had already fallen into a deep sleep.

"She's lying." said Giles. "You could see it in her eyes. She was too exhausted to hide it. Those attacks are serious and I bet they happen fairly frequently too."

Willow looked over at the sleeping demon. "She threw up so much blood I almost thought she had opened up her wounds again. Do you think there's anything we can do?"

Giles shook his head. "I don't know Willow, but I'm sure if we don't find a way to help these fits could end up killing her. All we can do for now is let her rest and heal and maybe in the future we can come up with a solution."


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Buffy sat on Giles's couch cradling a cup of tea, letting it warm her hands as she watched Giles muse over their findings.

"Well from what we know about the Beastealcian demons, if they are having problems removing the stone then it must somehow absorb energy of some kind. Being that the Beastealcians feed on energy then I am assuming that by going near it, they are losing some of the energy they have stolen. That would be a huge concern for them."

"So you think they will come for Maria then to take the stone?" Willow asked.

"Yes I would think that, unfortunately, that would be the case, though I think we don't have to worry about an immediate attack just yet with the condition she's in. If the Beastealcian really can trace her energy then it will know she won't be able to help out for the present."

Buffy frowned. "Has she woken up then? How did you know it was after her?"

"Hey what's with the slasher film in the bathroom?" asked Xander walking into the living room.

"Slasher film?" Giles said a look of confusion spreading over his face.

"He means the blood everywhere." explained Willow.

"Ah yes. Well as I was about to explain to Buffy, Maria did wake up this evening."

"That's great!" grinned Xander. "So she's going to be ok then!"

Willow looked pointedly at Giles.

"What's happened?" Buffy asked noticing the look.

"Well Maria did indeed come downstairs for the evening."

"Though she spent most of it unconscious." Willow added."

Giles took off his glasses and wiped them over before replacing them back on his nose.

"Unfortunately that is correct. She is still quite badly hurt, though she looked well on her way to recovering. We even managed to find out a bit about her situation and you were quite correct Buffy, the Beastealcian who she has named as Tynam is most certainly here for her and not the stone as we originally thought."

"I feel a but coming on." said Buffy slowly.

"She had just settled down to go to sleep again when she bolted up and started choking and screaming and clawing at herself." explained Willow.

"We found ourselves trying to restrain her from doing more damage to her body while trying not to cause more ourselves." continued Giles. "She managed to crawl to the bathroom, and as soon as she got there she calmed right down."

"The whole slasher look comes from the amazing amounts of blood she threw up as soon as she got there though. She looked really terrible." Willow said her voice drawing to a whisper as she finished her sentence.

Buffy looked at Giles. "I don't get it. Why did she react like that? Was it the injuries?"

Giles frowned. "It is a possibility but when I tried to check for infection, Maria said it had happened before. She did try to downplay the whole incident but I have a very strong suspicion that these are fairly frequent events and that she may not have been a hundred percent healthy before she received the injuries. She fell asleep within minutes and hasn't stirred since though so we have no way of asking her."

Willow's hand shot up. "Oh you know what I just remembered. That night Maria first staked a vampire, while we were at the library, she said she was ill then and ran off to the bathroom but we all put it down to shock. Well I'm guessing it really wasn't that big of a shock after all and it was this thing occurring again."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah she did it last night as well. We were jumped by some vampires and when she was fighting hers she suddenly seized up and was left curled up on the floor while the vamp kicked her about. I still think now it was only through sheer luck she managed to stake him. It was afterwards though, she was on the floor for ages throwing up and coughing. She put it down to feeling ill after swallowing some vampire dust. I didn't think anything of it her being a newbie and all."

"I'm sensing a connection." Xander said.

"How long has she been asleep for Giles?"

"A few hours."

"I think it's time we woke her up and got some answers. You know I'm betting she knows about this Althea Stone. She's too good at hiding stuff to make me think otherwise."

"Yes I agree. I think we should treat this gently though Buffy. Even if she is hiding things she still isn't in a good condition and so far she has proved to be on our side even if we can't trust her."

"She saved my life. Even if she is evil I still owe her one. I'll play gently don't worry."

* * *

Trinity could hear whispers above her. She thought she heard her name again but the voice faded before she really caught it. She was about to float back down to the black when she heard her name again louder this time, and something soft against her skin. She fought against sleep as it threatened to engulf her and opened her eyes slightly trying to find the person who called her. Her eyesight was blurred, the room a picture of subtle light and smudged colour. She could just about make out two hazy figures but her mind was struggling against sleep. She could hear the voices again, sharper then they were before but still she couldn't understand all they were saying. She managed to catch an odd word like feeling and sleep before she felt her body start to give up again. Not realising she had closed her eyes, she pulled them open again.

"What?" she finally managed to say though her voice was rough and not much louder then a whisper.

* * *

Buffy turned to Giles. "She's completely out of it. How are we meant to get any information?"

"Sometimes when a person is in a condition such as this, it is the best time to talk. She is still too exhausted to really understand what is going on, she might let something slip."

Buffy grinned. "I never knew you were so devious!"

Giles frowned. "I wasn't always a librarian you know." He turned back to Trinity's sleeping form. "We will leave the questions about her condition for now as I don't think we will have much time with her. Ask about the Stone and make the questions simple."

"Ok." Buffy turned her attention to Trinity. "Can you hear me Maria?"

Trinity opened her eyes again and tried to focus in on Buffy.

"We need to ask you some questions." Buffy continued not waiting for an answer. "Can you tell us anything about the Althea Stone?"

"The bloodstone." mumbled Trinity.

Buffy looked up at Giles. "Carry on Buffy. Ask her what she can tell us about it."

Buffy looked back down and repeated the question.

Trinity winced as she shifted ever so slightly. "The Althea Stone?"

"Yes what can you tell us about the Althea Stone. " Buffy said again.

Trinity closed her eyes.

"Maria?"

"Life to the living, death to the dead." she whispered.

Buffy frowned. "What does that mean Maria?"

Trinity lay still, her eyes remaining firmly closed.

Giles placed his hand on Buffy's shoulder. "I believe that is all we will get out of her for now."

"Life to the living, death to the dead." repeated Buffy. "What does that mean?"

Giles sighed. "I'm afraid I have no idea. I will give Angel a call and see if he can tell us anymore and then I think we shall have to look through the texts again."

* * *

"Life to the living, death to the dead."

"That was all she said." Giles told Angel.

"Damn it I think I know what I've missed! One second."

Giles could hear movement through the receiver. He heard a thud and some paper rustling before Angel came back onto the phone.

"Yeah here I've got it. I was so busy searching for references to the Stone the that I didn't even think about checking out the sword. I've got a book on Kerifan and in it; it mentions the use of the sword."

"Kerifan as in the Traybac rituals?"

"Yeah the same one."

"I've got that text myself I'll find it but first tell me what you have. How can you be sure it's the same sword?"

"Kerifan used his sword to destroy a bloodstone called Althea. It went wrong though and as he pierced it, it absorbed his soul and destroyed him. No one dared to take the sword from the bloodstone and so they hid the Stone with the sword still impaled in it."

Giles smiled. "That is exactly what we are looking for! What does it say about the Stone?"

"Quite a lot. This books known for its long winded chapters. Ok let me sum it up." Angel was silent for a moment as he quickly scanned the book. "Ok here it is life to the living and death to the dead. Before the Stone was impaled on Kerifan's sword it had an independent power, it basically did what it wanted at unexpected times. The problem was the power it used could be incredible or devastating. It would react to the energies around it especially people or demons. It would either give you extra life so for example you'd be stronger or quicker healing or above all immortal or it would kill you and take your soul."

"Was there a way of controlling it?" asked Giles.

"Not at this time and that's where the catch lay. This Stone was immensely sort after. Humans and demons would come from all over to be granted gifts. All they had to do was touch the Stone and it would grant them life or death.

"How did they know they would be given life?"

"They didn't. The Stone judges by its victim's energy whether they are closer to life or closer to death and then chooses whatever it's closest to and grants them it. All the young strapping men obviously would come and think they had plenty of life left in them and would be granted gifts only to wind up dead. They didn't understand that Stone measures energy not how long a life a person has. Energies rise and fall throughout a person's life it depends on so much."

"So why did Kerifan decide to destroy it?"

"The stone grew too powerful. It didn't even need to be touching it's victims to be able to grant life or death. It also caused an influx in the demon population. Demons generally have a high level of energy so more of them got granted its gifts then the humans. It wasn't exactly a good thing to have a bunch of juiced up demons running around."

"I can see how that might be. You said there wasn't a way of controlling it at that time. Are you saying there is now?"

"I'm saying precisely that. When the sword pierced the Stone it formed a bond with it. All the energies of the Stone were immediately channelled into the sword. Now it says here that if one wishes to be granted life they must first except death."

"And how exactly are they meant to do that."

"Wait I think there's a precise explanation somewhere."

Giles heard a few more pages being turned before Angel continued.

"Ok the person wishing to be granted life must first take there own by piercing their heart with the sword. By doing this the energies will flow down the bond created with the Stone and into the very persons being. There's a problem though."

"Isn't there always."

"When the sword is pulled free from the stone it immediately releases the Stones own power. It will absorb all the souls around it in a circle of power that will grow larger absorbing every soul it touches the longer the ritual goes on. The longer the ritual goes on the more power the person will gain. If they stop the ritual too soon though it will kill them."

"I see. The Stone is collecting souls and giving them to those it deems fit as extra energy. A person would appear immortal if every time they die and their soul leaves they have all that energy to fall back on instead. All those soul's energies must have granted them some extraordinary power but without an actual soul I would have thought that there were some quite evil creatures being created. I am willing to bet it could only be used by creatures with souls though."

"That would probably explain why I never heard of it in the vampire community. If the stone measures energy through the soul a vampire really wouldn't get very far."

"How can we destroy it?"

"It doesn't say. I don't think anyone's tried since Kerifan."

"Damn. I think we all need to work out a solution as quickly as possible."

"I can't come now it's too close to dawn." Angel slammed the book closed. "I think it'd be best if we all got some rest right now. We can do some more research later and then tomorrow we should meet at sundown and go destroy this thing."

"I agree I think that would be our best option for now."

Angel paused. "Giles I think you should watch your back with Maria in the house. Something's not ringing quite true with her. It's too much of a coincidence that she happens to fall in with Buffy and knows about the Althea Stone. Half demon too. Did she even tell you what type?"

"She says she doesn't know."

"Right like that's believable. It's rare for a demon not to know their heritage. You generally get signs of what race you are. For all we know she could be full demon anyway. There's plenty of them that can take human form. Look just be careful and just make sure Buffy is too. She'll listen to you."

"I think you'll find she'll listen to you too now. We will all be careful. I will see you here at sundown."

"Sundown" said Angel and hung up.

* * *

"Are you sure it doesn't say anything about how to destroy it?" asked Buffy again.

Giles flipped the pages of his book over. "Quite sure."

"They just love to make my job harder don't they." grumbled Buffy.

Giles shut the book and put it on the desk. "Right I think Angel is correct. It's close to dawn and we have all had a busy night. It's time we got some rest. I want to see you all here again at sundown tomorrow."

Xander yawned loudly and stretched. "I'm just glad it's a Saturday, at least I can lie in."

Willow looked up the stairs. "Are you going to be alright with Maria?"

Giles smiled. "I'll be just fine. Now all of you home."

Buffy stood up. "Tomorrow we destroy the Stone and Sunday we party."


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Trinity turned her head feeling the soft pillow resting below her and smelling the smell of a man's old aftershave, rubbed off after a night of tossing and turning. Opening her eyes, she recognised herself back in Giles's bedroom. At first she struggled to remember how she was back here but then the pieces started to drop back in place bit by bit until the picture became clearer if a little fuzzy in places. She ran her hand through her hair. 'I can't believe I bloody well had those damn cramps in front of them.' she thought angrily. She knew they hadn't bought her explanations but at the time she was too tired to care. Now she wasn't.

"Damn it." she muttered as she sat up.

Her body twinged in uncomfortable ways and told her it wasn't quite ready to be moved around just yet. 'Tough' she thought and slid her legs out of the bed. She walked to the mirror, gritting her teeth at her still painful knee, and checked herself over. The holes in her neck had completely healed, leaving just pinkish marks behind. Lifting up the t-shirt she saw her stomach wound had closed too. Turning she saw it had closed on her back as well. It was still a red scabby mess and the pulling on her insides let her know they defiantly could do with another few days, but otherwise it wasn't bad for just two days worth of healing. Dropping her t-shirt back down she turned towards the door, realising she could hear movement and the droning of a news reporter downstairs.

"Guess it's time to put in an appearance." Trinity said to herself and began the painful climb downstairs.

* * *

Giles looked up as he heard the familiar slow thuds of footfalls on the stairs.

"Maria? Are you quite alright?" he asked and got off the couch to once again help her to a seat.

Trinity waved him off and slowly walked to the couch herself. "I got to get this knee to stretch out otherwise it'll will give me jip for ages."

Giles nodded but still kept an eye on her as she made her way unsteadily to sit down. "Would you like something to eat?"

Trinity was starved but she shook her head. "No thanks I can't eat breakfast." She didn't think asking for a pint of O+ would be the wisest move right now considering she wasn't meant to know what demon she was. 'Cause I'm so going to tell a vampire Slayer what I am' she thought.

"Well it wouldn't be breakfast. It would be tea."

Trinity looked round at Giles. "What time is it?"

"Two hours before sundown. The others will be here soon."

"What's happening?"

Giles frowned and looked at Trinity. "We had a bit of a breakthrough." He stared carefully at her face as he said it watching for a reaction. 'Does she not remember our discussion?' he thought.

Trinity stared back. 'He doesn't trust me. Not like before with the whole demon stuff. No this different. Something's happened.' Her next thought was that Angelus had been here but she soon waved it away. She would be dead right now if he had.

"Is it anything I can help with?" she quickly said.

Giles let the frown slide from his face. "We are planning to go and destroy the Stone tonight. Buffy has found it's location."

Trinity face reflected the elation that had sprung up inside her. "That's brilliant! Can I help?"

Giles pondered what to do for a moment. He didn't want to take Maria with them and show her where it is but at the same time he didn't want to leave her behind and out of his sight. He couldn't work out if she genuinely wanted to help or if she truly was something to worry about as Angel seemed to think so. In the end he decided that there really was only one choice. She would have to come along. With Buffy and Angel there, if she did decide to show her true colours they could handle her.

He had paused for too long though. "What's wrong?" Trinity asked her face now deadly serious.

"I was concerned about your injuries. You see we are quite expecting the Beastealcian demons to turn up as well." It's not a exactly a full lie Giles thought afterwards.

Trinity sighed. "Oh. Your not sure you want me there because I'll lead them to it, that and you trust me as about as far as you can throw me." Seeing the look on his face she quickly carried on before he could interrupt. "I don't blame you. I've been pretty secretive and it can't exactly be easy for you to trust a demon. I'll understand if you don't want me around. I'll disappear its ok but just don't give me that crap you're worried about me. It doesn't matter where I am Tynam's going to find me. So I'm going to get killed either way but I guess at least if I'm not by the Althea Stone he doesn't get that too."

Giles echoed Trinity's sigh. "You're right I don't trust you but it's not because of your demon heritage."

Trinity frowned. "Then what?"

"Life to the living, death to the dead."

Trinity's heart leapt into her throat. 'Crap crap crap!' was all she could think. "The Althea Stone, what of it?" she said calmly hiding her rush of panic.

"You admit you know it then."

"What are you getting at?"

Giles walked round and stood directly in front of her. "You told us that in your sleep last night. Why didn't you tell us before? Why are you really here Maria?"

Maria ran her hands over her face. "This is why I wanted to speak to you the other night. I knew something like this would happen and it wouldn't matter what I say I'm just meat for the Slayer."

"You're not meat yet. I'm willing to listen but I tell you now the explanation better be a damn good one."

Maria slouched back into the chair. "I was going to tell you I knew as soon as Buffy found out about me. I was going to tell you everything but I passed out and then with the stuff last night I haven't had a chance. Look I don't know much but I read this book about a man named Kerifan. The Traybac rituals I think. In it he talks about a bloodstone called the Althea Stone. I don't really remember it all I wasn't that interested to be truthful. That phrase really stuck in my head though. It's got something to do with granting and taking away power. All I remember is Kerifan tried and failed to destroy it and that's it."

Anger quickly spread over Giles face. "You knew all that and you never thought once to tell us!" he shouted. "You have been with us for days watching us struggle and you didn't even try to reveal yourself, instead you just buried yourself in lies."

Trinity shot up, anger burning up inside her too. "Yeah your right I did lie. I lied a hell of a lot and you know what. I felt like crap every time I did. What was I supposed to do though Giles? March on up and say hi I'm Maria I'm a demon by the way, do you mind if I join the uber secret Slayer gang so I can keep tabs on a bunch of other demons while staying hidden. You happy? I admitted it. I used you. I used all of you. I needed to find a way out of my bargain with Tynam and I thought the Slayer could help me with it."

"You were going to swap places with Buffy so Tynam would drop your mark and mark her instead." Giles said quietly.

Trinity collapsed back on the couch. "No." she sighed running her hands through her hair. "I would never do that. I might be a half demon but I sure as hell don't take after that half. How can you think that? I could have let Buffy take my place the other night and stayed nicely hidden but I didn't. I couldn't. Damn it I actually kind of like you guys and I don't know what to do. I wanted to tell you every minute of the day what I knew about the Stone and especially about me but the longer it took the harder it got. I never had friends before, well not like you guys. Not ones that wouldn't kill their own mother for that extra boost of immortality. I've got Alana and I'd do anything for her but she's an innocent. She doesn't need someone like me, a magnet for trouble in her life."

"That's quite some sob story."

"Look you know what Giles I think I better go. You're right you shouldn't and you can't trust me. I know it, you know it. I guess I was right about not wanting to tell you though. Your reaction now has proved that. Can you honestly say that if I told you straight off I was a demon in trouble you would have helped me? Don't tell yourself a load of bull now. I wouldn't have been around long enough to even know you were looking for that damn stone let alone tell you about it."

Trinity grabbed her big black knee length combat boots that she had grabbed from some old army store years ago. She felt so much better having something familiar and her own touching her skin. "You know" she continued after she had pulled on the last boot and stood up painfully. "You humans are all the same. We could be your best friend until you know we're a demon. Then it's all about killing our kind. Well I sure as hell didn't ask for this life. Hated by both sides for being half of the enemy. Try living it sometime and see how far you get."

She hobbled over to her short black leather jacket and unhooked it from the coat hanger. "I work my ass off trying to be something I'm not and I'm sick of it. I got told once that I should embrace my demon side and let it influence me as much as my humanity does. Thing is the thought kind of scares me. You see I know exactly what type of demon I am. Yeah another lie I know. This one was kind of necessary though.

Pulling on her jacket she turned and faced Giles who was still stood silently by the couch. "Tell me. How the hell do you tell a Slayer you're a vampire? How can I tell her it's ok though because I'm a vampire with a soul? Who's going to believe that crap hey?"

"We would." answer Giles gently.

Trinity snorted and pulled open the door. "Sure you would."

She had just put a single foot out of the door when the cramps tore through her at unexpected speed. Crying out she crumpled to the floor clawing at her stomach and gasping in breaths.

"Maria!" Giles called out rushing over to help her.

"Get off me Watcher." Trinity growled as another cramp hit her.

"Let me help you Maria."

"I said get off me!" Trinity screamed out and stood up sharply throwing Giles away from her as she did and sending him crashing to the floor a few feet away.

Clawing at the wall for support, Trinity stumbled as quickly as she could away from Giles and out into the street.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Trinity slammed through her front door and ran straight to the bathroom her hand covering her mouth as blood poured down her chin.

When she had finally finished coughing up blood and had cleaned herself up, she sat on the edge of the bath resting her pounding head in her hands. The cramps were happening more often. It had gone from every few months to every day now. It had been a few years since she had had her first attack and it had gone down hill ever since. She knew she didn't have long left before her body made a choice. The demon or the human. She knew deep inside what her body had already chosen though. Her blood cravings were stronger, her healing quicker not to mention her speed and strength also taking a boost. She had been to every shaman, witch, psychic and even human doctors she could find and all had said the same. There was nothing they could do. Her body was going to battle it out with itself until either her demon side won and she became like every other mindless murdering vampire or she became fully human and her body died from the strain. She knew this was what her body was doing from it's very first twinge. When she told the witch what she knew was happening, she had offered her an herb. She told Trinity it was painless, that she would just die peacefully in her sleep. She had gotten mad then and told her where she could stuff her damn weed but part of her now wishes she had taken it. The other half knew why she hadn't though. Gabe, Josh.

She heaved herself to her feet and pulled off the old clothes and changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a deep purple vest top. Pulling her boots and jacket back on she thought about what had happened at Giles.

"You're such an idiot." she muttered harshly at herself.

She felt so stupid knowing full well that when she was getting mad at Giles for thinking the worst of her, she was madder at herself for being found out. All they wanted to do was help and I screwed it up. She still thought that there was no way she could have told them the truth from the beginning. At least now she knew where to head to get the Stone's whereabouts. She wished she had come to Sunnydale about Tynam. Her life would have worked out a lot simpler and then maybe she would have a friend in the Slayer. As it was though she needed the stone and by getting it she would instantly be betraying Buffy. Using it was only going to make that betrayal bite that little bit deeper.

"As long as I don't hurt anybody then what does it matter." She planned to destroy it as soon as she was done with it so it never did fall into the wrong hands. At least she wasn't using it for evil.

She walked out of the house, the guilt weighing just as heavily on her as when she had entered.

* * *

"I can't believe it! Another Angel! Our lives surely aren't that cursed." groaned Xander.

"I must admit the probability of there being two vampires with a soul are rather slim but after my little brush with her strength I can't deny she isn't quite human." said Giles.

"It's impossible though isn't it? I mean she's walking around in the day." Willow said. "Angel can't do that he's just like all the others."

"Yes that is true but I think if she really is a vampire then we must realise that she is only a half breed. That would explain her abilities." explained Giles.

Willow frowned. "That can't be possible either though. Vampires can't breed and you can't get half made into a vampire."

"These are all facts that I have thought over also and the only conclusion I have is either she is lying or she is something completely new."

"Angel will be here soon." said Buffy looking out the window at the darkening sky. "We can ask him if he knows anything"

Buffy couldn't work out her emotions about this new revelation. She felt anger at Maria's lies but at the same time she felt sad that she had lost what could have been an incredible new ally and friend. Then there was Angel. She didn't know how she felt about having another vampire around with a soul. Was it something that Angel would relate to, maybe relate to a little too much.

Willow stepped up beside her sensing Buffy's fears. "Don't worry. Angel only has eyes for you. Remember he was the one who didn't like her in the first place."

"Thanks Will."

The two girls were hugging when they felt the ground shudder.

"What was that?" asked Xander an edge of panic in his voice.

Before anyone could answer, the front door split open and was pulled from its frame.

"What the hell is that?" shouted Xander staring at the huge demon standing in Giles's doorway.

Buffy took step back drawing Willow with her. "That would be Tynam."

* * *

Trinity took a step back and using all her strength kicked in the door to Willy's bar. She winced as she brought her leg back down and walked into the dark room. The place was deserted at first glance but she could smell the scent of fear and hear light breathing coming from behind the bar. She lent over and grabbed Willy by the collar and threw him over the bar and into a pile of chairs in the corner.

"Hello Willy."

Willy crawled to the far wall and put his hands up in front of him. "Please! I'll tell you anything! Please!"

Trinity stalked over to where he was sitting and crouched down. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Trinity and I'm impatient. I want to know where the Althea Stone is. Tell me and I'll let you go. Don't…" Trinity morphed her face into it's vampire form. "And I'll be having a little fun before I kill you."

* * *

Buffy ducked as a piece of the door came flying through the window towards her head. The others all scrambled to the back of the room and to the weapons chest as Tynam, Craw and Aspen all squeezed into the room.

"I want the girl." growled Tynam. "Where is she hiding?"

"She's not here." answered Buffy.

"Liar." spat out Tynam and raced towards the Slayer.

Craw and Aspen turned and looked at the other three. Peeling back their lips into a type of snarling smile, they raised their arms up and let the spikes extend until they dripped with the same brown sludge that marked Trinity's back.

"This is so not good." muttered Xander holding a small double bladed axe in his hands.

"Giles this is never going to work." whispered Willow. "These are everyday weapons not magically made ones."

"I'm afraid we don't have much of a choice." Giles whispered back.

"We are so going to die." said Xander.

* * *

Trinity found the door already broken from Buffy's last visit and so gently pushed it and slid in through the small gap so as not to alert the people walking outside to it's presence. She could smell the rotting corpses before she found them propped up together in the corner of the storeroom.

"Excuse me." she muttered before slipping herself around the boxes that had been shifted away from the backdoor.

She managed to catch herself on the doorway a moment before she fell into the large hole that lay directly below her feet. Crouching down, Trinity smelt the ground trying to catch the Slayers scent. She found it but it was an old smell probably left from the previous night, she could also smell Angelus's mixed in with it. After pausing to listen for voices, she jumped into the hole and froze when she hit the bottom, waiting for the bad guys to rush out and grab her. When nothing came though she stood up and followed the single tunnel down towards the flickering light and into a large circular room. There in front of her buried half in the wall was the Althea Stone.

Walking over to it she inspected every inch of it including the sword protruding from its middle, being careful all the while to not touch it accidentally. Taking a step back she frowned. There was no way she was going to be able to take the stone from the wall without removing the sword first and that would set the Stone's powers off. She would have to do the ritual here.

Looking up towards the street above her, Trinity could imaging the hundreds of feet passing over head at that very instant. The hundreds of lives that would be lost if she did the ritual here.

"Damn."

* * *

Buffy flew across the room and hit the wall hard, slamming to the ground with a thud.

"Buffy!" cried out Xander and ran to her side brandishing his axe.

He had barely run two steps when Craw grabbed him and hurled him through the air to hit the banister of the stairs.

Giles and Willow stood side by side their body tensed waiting for Aspen to make his move. Instead of moving forward he turned and growled at Tynam.

"We had a deal, the Slayer's mine. Let me handle her."

Tynam shrugged. "If you so wish."

The two demons swapped places, watching their victim's movements as they did. Aspen towered over Buffy as she pulled herself to her feet, wiping her hand over her eye to clear it of the blood from a gash on her forehead.

"I told you, Maria's not here."

"I don't care about the Calero girl. She isn't mine to feed on. You however I care greatly about." replied Aspen.

His hand shot forward trying to grab Buffy but instead found himself clutching air as Buffy ducked down. She shot her leg out and swept his feet out from under him sending the demon crashing to the floor.

"Bet you're regretting swapping places now." said Buffy as she stamped down on his middle.

"Not particularly." said Aspen and he grabbed her ankle and pulled her down with him.

Giles swung his short sword round catching Tynams arm as he swung it down to hit the prone Willow. It jammed between the spikes but stopped it in its tracks, inches from the girls face. Willow crawled out of the way and swung her axe around at his unprotected back. The blade ricocheted of his spines and flew from her hand. Tynam looked round and laughed at Willows wide eyed stare. Bringing his free arm around, he knocked her back down to the floor. Giles tugged the sword free and swung it in a downward sweep aiming for Tynam's head. He had barely begun the move though before Tynam grabbed his wrist and squeezed hard enough for him to drop the sword. With his free hand he punched Giles squarely in the face causing his head to hit the wall with a large bang. Giles crumpled to the ground and stayed there.

Tynam glanced around the room watching his companions playing. "I am going to look for the Calero girl." he announced.

"Remember don't kill her yet." said Craw holding Xander by the throat. "I still need her. We had a deal."

Tynam bared his teeth. "I remember." he said and stalked off.

Craw turned back to Xander who was struggling desperately for air. "In the mean time I think a snack should get me going."

He raised his arm up showing the spike protruding from it. He brought his arm back and thrust it forward towards Xander's stomach.

* * *

Pulling the phone free from the wall bracket where it hung, Trinity walked over to the window and peered through the blinds. The street was packed with busy shoppers trying to grab the last few bargains of the day. Trinity dialled the number and placed the phone to her ear listening to the clicking of the numbers going through before she heard it ringing. After a couple of seconds the phone was picked up.

"Hello Sunnydale police station. How may I help you?"

"I want to report a bomb." Trinity said, adding a fake American drawl to her voice. "I'm sick of the government's blindness to the harsh realities of this world and so I've decided to do something about it, starting with that disgusting evil place The Magic Box." she paused for a brief moment letting the message sink in. "You have thirty minutes to get rid of the scum and then I start blowing this town to pieces."

She placed the phone back on its hook cutting off the telephone operator and waited. Sure enough ten minutes later three police cars pulled up and started clearing the area of terrified shoppers. People ran as quickly as they could back to the safety of their home. Trinity watched as they cornered off the whole block with yellow tape and moved a good distance back from the bomb area, waiting for the professionals to arrive. Trinity redialled the police station.

"Good. Now I will call you with my demands within the hour. If I see a single person set foot in the area before then, I won't hesitate to kill everyone here with me."

"Are you saying you have hostages?" came the voice from the other end of the line.

"I'd be pretty stupid not to wouldn't I?"

Trinity put the phone down again and watched from the window for a few more minutes before making her way back down to the stone.

* * *

Xander closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. He thought that he would probably end up dying doing this job everyday; he just didn't think it would come so soon. He felt the tip of the spike touch his stomach before it was dragged sharply across his belly. The pressure from his throat suddenly disappeared and Xander finally managed to gasp in a breath as he fell to the floor. 'Is he playing with me?' he thought and opened his eyes expecting to see Craw ready to smash his face into a pulp. Instead he found himself looking up at Angel.

"You ok?"

Xander nodded.

"Good." and Angel rushed over to help Buffy.

Xander glanced towards the back of the room and saw Willow hovering over a very still Giles. Jumping over Craw who was just gathering his senses back together again after being kicked in the head by Angel, Xander rushed to his best friend's side.

"I think he's just unconscious." said Willow before Xander could ask how he was.

Giles had a large lump forming on the back of his head and the skin had split over the bridge of his nose.

Willow and Xander shot worried looks over their shoulders as Craw looked over at them and screamed with rage. Xander grabbed Giles fallen sword and stood in front of him and Willow.

"Just try it." he muttered.

Craw's eyes narrowed and he began stalking forward.

Angel punched Aspen in his lower back, drawing his attention from Buffy to him. As soon as he looked away, Buffy shot out away from the wall where Aspen had backed her up. Aspen reached out a clawed hand to try and grab her but Buffy nimbly flipped over it and landed in a roll on the floor before standing up to join Angel.

"Nice timing." she said.

"I'm just annoyed you started the party without me."

"Don't blame me blame these guys. They were rude enough to turn up before sundown."

"Well I guess I better show them just how annoyed I am.

Angel and Buffy rushed forward, teaming up to take Aspen down. They both launched kicks at his body at the same time sending him slamming into the wall behind. Buffy quickly punched him in the face as Angel once again aimed for the torso.

A roar of anger suddenly vibrated through the room. All eyes swivelled to see Tynam stood in the bathroom door, a pile of bloody towels held in his clawed hand.

"Where is she?" he screamed out.

Giles suddenly moaned and opened his eyes.

"Giles! Can you hear me?" asked Willow.

Tynam hearing his moan looked at the trio. Shoving Willow and Xander out of the way, he grabbed Giles by the front of his shirt and hoisted him up.

"The Calero girl. I want her. Where is she?"

"She's not here." Giles manage to say. "She left about an hour ago."

Tynam dropped Giles unceremoniously onto the floor and closed his eyes. After a moment he opened them again and turned to his comrades.

"He's right the girl is gone. Leave them. We're leaving."

Aspen pushed forward away from Buffy and Angel. "No the Slayer!"

"I said leave them!" Tynam screeched. "We will deal with them later. I want the girl."

Aspen shut his mouth and stormed out of the door closely followed by Craw. Tynam dumped the towels on the ground and walk towards the exit. When he was level with Buffy he narrowed his eyes and growled before disappearing into the night.

"Is everyone all right?" asked Buffy rushing over to her friends.

Xander and Willow helped Giles to his feet.

"I never thought I'd say this but I am getting surprisingly used to being knocked out."

"That was way too close to us being mulch. Where do you think they've gone?" asked Xander.

"To where ever Maria is that's for sure." replied Willow.

Giles wandered over to the couch and collapsed down upon it.

"If they can track her though, why did they come here?" Buffy said frowning.

"The towels." answered Giles. "They're soaked with Maria's blood. I threw them in the trash but Tynam dug them out. He must track his victims through their blood. The towels threw him off track for a moment."

"Ok that's gross." commented Xander.

"Actually it's quite clever. Blood after all is life…"

"No not that." interrupted Xander. "That."

Everyone turned to look at where he was pointing. Angel stood holding the bloody towels, a deep frown on his face. He lifted them to his face and inhaled deeply before wiping some of the blood off on his fingers and putting them in his mouth. The moment the blood touched his tongue, Angels face fell. He threw the towels to the ground in anger.

"Damn it.!"

"Angel?" Buffy said walking over to her boyfriend.

"The demon called her Calero."

Buffy frowned. "What of it?"

"You've never told me her surname before; I didn't even think to ask. We could have dealt with her days ago if I had just thought to ask."

"You know her." said Buffy.

"I don't just know her. I created her."

* * *

Trinity wrapped her hands carefully around the swords hilt. Its power immediately sprung to her skin, lightly burning her finger tips. Taking a deep breath and bracing herself, Trinity sharply pulled the sword free of the stone. Almost immediately the air was thick with power. It felt heavy like water coursing over her body only as she looked around nothing could be seen. The Stone glowed ever so slightly in its rock prison. Trinity knelt on the floor facing it, the sword held firmly in her hand. Nervous anticipation flowed through her body as she lifted the blade and rested the point over her heart. She closed her eyes and steeled herself for the moment she had worked so hard for.

It had taken months of research, tracking down creatures, reading books and stealing information anyway she could and all for this moment. It had nearly cost her, her life more times then she could count but now she was finally here. Everything had finally come together. So why did she feel as if she was hesitating? She took a deep breath and prepared to push the sword through but still she couldn't bring herself to do it. She knew it wasn't fear of pain or dying. She had known what this would be like and by doing it she would be making the world a better place.

Trinity opened her eyes and looked towards the caverns roof and realised. It wasn't fear of her dying. It was fear of the people above her dying instead. She knew the area was clear and yet a niggling thought of doubt squeezed itself into her mind. 'What if someone is still up there? What if it goes wrong? What if an innocent dies?'

"No not now Trin come on." she muttered to herself trying to push the doubt away. She had just worked too hard for her to fail at the final hurdle.

The doubt didn't leave though. Instead it grew stronger inside of her, attacking her in the most vulnerable places. 'Even if it does work, even if you manage to kill the vampire inside you it doesn't mean you will still be with them eventually.'

Trinity squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth. "Come on."

'Why should you of all people get what you want? Do you even deserve it after the things you've done."

Trinity screamed in frustration and threw the sword to the floor. She pressed the heel of her hands into her eyes trying to stop the tears that wanted to fall from slipping out. She couldn't do it. She couldn't risk that there might be people up there or that something could go wrong. She couldn't risk innocent people's lives. She had already done enough wrong in her life without adding to it. She wouldn't do this just so she could get what she wanted. A creature like her didn't deserve to have dreams let alone be able fulfil them.

She stood up and turned to go get some fresh air before she destroyed the Stone, her last chance.

Tynam stood at the tunnel entrance flanked by Craw and Aspen.

He pulled back his lips and bared his teeth. "Found you."

* * *

"What do you mean created her?" Buffy asked.

"I mean exactly that. I made her what she is."

"A vampire." said Giles.

Angel turned frowning to Giles. "How did you know?"

"She told me before she left. We found it hard to believe though. A half breed vampire. It's impossible"

"No. She didn't lie. She is a half breed."

"Well that would explain the whole walking around in the sun thing." said Willow.

Buffy walked away from Angel and sat on the couch. "I can't believe it."

Angel stepped closer to the group. "It was a long time ago, over a hundred years in fact. I was Angelus back then and she was nothing but an accident."

"An accident?" said Buffy.

"Yes. Trinity was never even meant to have been born. Instead she became a plaything for Darla and me. Another dimension to our hunting games. She was like our child to mould and form, but not out of love. We just wanted to see how twisted and dangerous we could make her."

"And is she?" asked Xander.

"Is she what?"

"Twisted and dangerous."

"She was and after the things I did to her, I imagine she is even more so."

"You didn't call her Maria." said Willow.

"No. She didn't lie to you though. She has so many names all over the world. Her mother named her Maria. I named Trinity. I thought it would be funny to name a child of the devil after the holy trinity. Her full name she has used for the last century is Trinity Maria Calero."

"Do you think she's working with Spike and Drusilla?" asked Buffy.

Angel shook his head. "No. I doubt she even realises they are here. Even if she knew she would be more likely to avoid them as I think she has done with me. No, if she's here then she wants something."

"The Stone." said Willow.

"This is not boding well. Maria knows how to find the Stone now. She could easily be there already." said Giles.

"What about Tynam though? Couldn't it really be she was just hiding from him?" Willow asked.

"Definitely not." said Angel. "Trin likes a challenge. She would stand her ground and kill them or find a way to do it. She definitely wouldn't run."

"Uh guys, maybe you should look at this." said Xander facing the TV.

A blonde newscaster stood by some yellow police tape in the centre of Sunnydale town. A banner at the bottom of the screen read 'Breaking news: Bomb scare in Sunnydale.'

"…The area has been evacuated though and officials are now just waiting for the bombers demands."

"I'm thinking that's not a coincidence." said Xander.

Buffy rushed to the door. "We've got to get to the Stone now."


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

"Now's not a good time Tynam." Trinity said staring at the three demons blocking her way.

"Now's a perfect time." Tynam growled back.

The Beastealcian demons moved further into the room and began to circle themselves around her. Trinity's eyes flicked to the sword lying on the floor just a few feet away from her. Aspen caught the movement and smiled at her before walking over to the sword and throwing it as far away from her, as far as he could. Trinity's heart sank as her only weapon disappeared.

"Why now Tynam?" asked Trinity. "You know I'm not nearly a hundred percent. Give it another few days and I could be perfect."

"You will be better then perfect after the ritual." said Tynam.

Trinity shrugged. "Well I'm sorry but I changed my mind. I'm not going to do it anymore so you should just come back later."

"We don't need you to agree to the ritual for you to do it."

Trinity frowned. "You can't force me to do it. I know you can't touch the sword, I felt it's energy. It would drain you in seconds."

Tynam burst out laughing. "No I can't touch the sword when it's touching the Stone, but you've already solved that little problem for me."

Trinity's eyes widened as she realised she was out of options. She turned around trying to find an opening between the demons but just found herself facing Craw instead."

Tynam laughed again. "Feeling panicked now are we. You know what's coming. Let it happen and it could be so much less painful for you."

"But less fun for us." commented Aspen.

Tynam smiled. "You're right. What was I thinking. Get her."

Aspen and Craw both rushed forward. Trinity ran towards the cavern wall then used it to vault backwards over them and run towards the exit.

Tynam suddenly appeared in front of her and shook his head. He grabbed her by the throat and threw her into the opposite wall.

Trinity cried out as she slammed into the rock and fell to the floor. She knew she couldn't rest for a moment though and scrambled to her feet. She found herself staring at the Stone. She ran forward knowing if she could just break it, the demons couldn't perform the ritual. She might not survive the fight afterwards but at least the world above would.

Her fingers brushed the Stone when Craw body slammed her into the wall knocking all the air from her. She slid to the floor as he moved away, feeling numb all over. He grabbed her by the leg and dragged her along the ground. Pain shot through her body from the pressure on her injured knee joint, waking her back to her senses. Crying out she pushed herself off the floor and kicked Craw with her free leg making him drop her.

Pulling herself to her feet, she was ready when Aspen ran forward to grab her and managed to jump out of the way. She punched him in the gut as he ran past but he barely even winced at the movement. Aspen turned and growled at her.

"Just back off. You can't have me anyway. I belong to Tynam."

"I know that already." said Aspen moving closer to her. "The Slayers mine."

"The Slayer belongs to nobody." Trinity shouted out.

She ran at Aspen and rammed him backwards using her shoulder. Aspen, surprised at the move stumbled backwards allowing Trinity the chance to run pass back into the centre of the room. The demons began to circle her again bringing them back to square one.

"And what do you get out of it?" Trinity asked Craw.

"I get the Stone." he said calmly.

"So you got the bum deal then. I will be taking all the power from the Stone it'll will be nothing more then a shell when it's finished."

Craw smiled. "You can not turn me against the others if that is what you are trying. I know all about the Althea Stone. I know it can never become empty. It will always have souls to fill it. All three of us will have feasted like no other of our kind when we leave this place. Nothing you can say will make me want to give that up."

Trinity was out of ideas and Tynam was out of patience.

"Enough fooling around. I've waited long enough. Get her." roared Tynam.

Aspen ran at Trinity. She turned to dash off in the other direction only to find herself blocked by Craw. He punched her hard in the face causing her to stumble back into Aspen who grabbed her arms and twisted them behind her painfully. Craw punched her again and again until blood poured from her nose and mouth and her left eye was so swollen she could barely see.

She lashed out with her feet but Craw dodged them then punched her in the stomach until she could barely stand up straight.

Tynam moved up and pushed Craw out of the way.

"You've caused me nothing but trouble and now I want what I deserve. Fetch the sword."

As Craw disappeared, Tynam struck a heavy blow on the back of her shoulders as Aspen let her go sending her falling to the floor.

She crawled onto all fours not wanting to appear so vulnerable to the trio. She raised her head to look venomously into Tynams eyes.

He stood calmly in front of her, the sword shining in his hands, a hint of a smile on his lips. "Hold her arms."

Craw and Aspen grabbed an arm each and hauled her up to her knees. They held her at a painful angle forcing her back to curve and her chest to stick out as if she were an offering to Tynam.

Tynam raised the sword and angled it towards her heart.

"Tynam please. If you do this people will die." Trinity begged knowing that the demon didn't care but having to try nonetheless. "Kill me if you want. I promise not to fight you or to run just don't do the ritual. Please!"

"Your energy's not enough anymore. I want more."

Tynam thrusted the sword down pushing through her chest and out the other side.

She dimly heard a male voice cry out before the power washed over her like a wave. It gushed down her throat threatening to drown her. She could feel the cold metal get hotter and hotter until it burned as her heart began to pulsate around it. Trinity heard noises, a scraping of rock, a voice, a bang of metal but they all seemed muffled and far away. She expected her body to scream with agony but instead it shivered with power. She could feel her demon and human sides move around the energy as if not quite knowing what to make of it. Then the energy touched them both and the real fight began.

* * *

Buffy and the others sprinted down the tunnel. They could hear Trinity's voice desperately pleading. They reached the cavern just in time to see Tynam spear the sword though her heart. Angel called out Trinity's name and rushed forward to meet them, his face changing into his vampire guise. The demons turned in surprise dropping her limp body haphazardly on the floor, the sword still buried deep in her chest.

"Slayer" said Aspen his look of surprise melting into one of pure pleasure.

"They've started the ritual." said Giles. "We've got to destroy the Stone."

"I'm thinking first we're going to have to get through them." replied Buffy and she rushed forward to attack Aspen, her short sword held at her side.

Angel lunged at Tynam and back handed him sending him stumbling back a few paces. Tynam turned back to Angel wiping his mouth, his eyes shining with anger.

"A vampire?" Tynam began to laugh. "A vampire working with a Slayer. That is quite possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen. Is she one of yours too then." he said nodding his head towards Trinity.

"Yeah she's with me." growled Angel.

"I bet you're furious that she is my possession now."

Angel smirked. "I'll think you'll find that Trinity is very much her own person. No one can lay claim to her, not even me, and trust me I tried for nearly a century."

Tynam nodded. "I'll admit she has proved difficult but I guess it always comes down to power. Who's got it and who has strength enough to take it."

He stood straighter, towering over Angel, and looked the vampire up and down. "You it would seem have neither."

"How do you know until you try me?" said Angel and he moved into a roundhouse kick which caught Tynam along the line of the jaw.

Tynam began to laugh again as he straightened himself. "Yes it would be rude not to at least let you try."

He bent down and growled deeply and ran at Angel, the spike in his arm extending as he threw himself at the vampire.

Xander rushed over to Trinity's side. "Is she ok?" he asked Giles.

Her eyes were shut tightly, and her breathing shallow . A thin sheen of sweat glinted off her skin.

"I can't say for sure. I don't know what to expect."

Willow stared wide eyed at her bruised and bloody face. "She looks like she's concentrating."

"Well she can stop right now." said Xander and reached over to grasp the sword.

Giles grabbed his wrist before he could touch it. "No! If you remove it now you could kill her."

Xander frowned and pulled back his hand. "And that's a bad thing? Remember what Angel said? She's not right in the head."

"Since when have you ever listened to Angel?" said Willow.

"If her death isn't a good enough excuse then how about our own? Removing the sword could cause a backlash of power that kills us all."

"Yeah that's a good enough reason." said Xander sitting back on his heels.

"I still don't think she's evil. I can't believe it. She hasn't really done anything wrong and she hasn't told us any major lies." Willow reasoned.

"Any major lies we know of." said Xander.

"Are you all quite finished?" came a gravely voice behind them.

The group turned around to face Craw.

"Ok who forgot there were three demons?" Xander said getting to his feet and holding his double bladed axe in front of him.

Before anymore could be said, Trinity cried out and her eyes shot open. They had gone the pure yellow of her vampire eyes.

"What the…" began Craw.

A huge burst of power suddenly exploded from the Stone sending demons and humans alike to the floor.

"It's started!" Aspen shouted out as he struggled to get to his feet in the heavy power that smothered the room.

Willow looked over to Giles. "I don't feel right."

"I believe…" Giles stuttered. "I believe it is the Stones affect. We are being drained."

Buffy scrambled to her feet, grabbing her sword from where it had fallen from her hand. She swung it at Aspen who had just managed to stand clipping him across his cheek. He growled and lashed out a clawed hand that caught her across the stomach.

"Not quite as quick now are we Slayer."

Buffy frowned. She really wasn't. Only moments ago she had dodged the same move easily. She threw a punch only to have Aspen catch her fist mid air and pull her off her feet.

"Buffy be careful!" called out Giles. "The Stone's draining us."

Buffy rolled out of the way of Aspens foot stamping down. "Well that explains a lot." she muttered.

* * *

Trinity felt as if she was being torn in half and put back together over and over but always in the wrong way. She could feel the weakness of her human body struggle against the waves of power which her vampire swam through easily. For a moment she panicked. Was she wrong? Would the Stone actually take her humanity and leave her a demon instead of the other way which she had always thought. That moment of panic was all it took to let the power engulf her, feeding her and feeding from her all at once. She cried out and struggled against it trying desperately not to let it overwhelm her. She could feel her vampire raise up but she fought hard against it, not letting it win. She was weak against it though, so very weak. It wouldn't be long before it won and then her demon would destroy her.

* * *

Angel fell to one knee as Tynam pushed his spines hard against Angel's sword. It felt as if the demons strength had triple but in reality Angel knew it was his own strength that had halved. Mustering as much energy as he could, he pushed up against Tynam, pushing him back away from himself. Tynam released the sword from his spikes grip.

"Why fight vampire? You weaken just like all the other souls in this room. Soon you will fade away. My death will feel so much better."

"I don't know." said Angel. "Death wasn't exactly fun the first time I did it. I'm thinking it doesn't matter how I do it a second time, I'm still not going to get any laughs from it."

He swung his sword round again, forcing Tynam back. "So I think I'll skip the whole dying part if it's alright with you."

"That's just not an option."

Tynam caught Angel's sword as he thrust it towards him and wrenched it from his grip. "These things will not kill us I hope you realise."

"I know, but they can be damn annoying if stuck in your flesh."

"Really?" said Tynam.

He slashed at Angel and just managed to catch him along his side. "So I see." he said as Angel cried out in pain.

Xander risked a quick glance around at Buffy and Angel. Both were struggling against the demons and the rising power. 'If they're struggling then how the hell am I meant to defeat this thing?' he thought watching Craw stalk towards him.

He raised his axe above his head and swung it at the demon who caught it easily and pulled. Xander fell past the demon and received a heavy blow on his back sending him sprawling. Craw picked up the axe and flung it across the room.

Xander rolled over so he was looking up at the demon. He flung his arms up, his only form of protection as Craw lifted his foot to stamp down hard on him.

Giles barrelled into the demon knocking him over. Willow helped Xander to his feet.

"We've got to destroy the stone." said Giles.

"I'll go" Xander said taking the axe from Willow.

"No. I will. The closer you are to the Stone, the quicker it drains you."

"That would be suicide Giles! You can't" gasped Willow.

"We have no other choice."

"Either way we can't do anything until we get rid of him." said Xander looking at Craw who had climbed back to his feet and was looking extremely unhappy. He snarled at the small group and rushed forward. Xander pushed Willow out of the way and instead took most of the hit himself.

Craw put his hands around Xander's throat and began to squeeze the life from him.

Willow hit the demon on his back with her axe, but Craw didn't pay any attention. He was determined to kill the irritating little boy.

Giles picked up his sword and swung it at Craws neck. The weapon just bounced of the demons toughened skin, barely even scratching.

"Just keep hitting him." Giles called out and Willow followed his order.

* * *

Trinity was losing. She could feel every fibre of herself being absorbed by the demon inside her. Her own mind seemed to turn against her whispering dark thoughts of murder and mayhem. 'Embrace me and you will be truly powerful. We will destroy the Beastealcian and then the Slayer and Angelus.' Trinity had barely heard the end of her thoughts though. Embrace me it had said. Someone had once told her that before, she had even told Giles.

_I work my ass off trying to be something I'm not and I'm sick of it. I got told once that I should embrace my demon side and let it influence me as much as my humanity does. Thing is the thought kind of scares me._

She wasn't a demon, she was human and she works hard every day trying to live the way a decent human being should. It is her humanity that makes her who she is not her demon. Her thoughts gave her renewed strength. She could feel her demon being pushed back deep inside her, screaming and clawing all the way. It hurt but the human in her rose up soothed the pain. Her eyesight began to clear along with her mind. She realised she was still in the cavern.

She looked around, shocked at the sight of Buffy and her friends fighting. Then she saw Angelus. Fear welled up inside her and once again she had the urge to run. She knew that he had seen her though, everyone would know who and what she was, a monster. 'Stop it.' she told herself. 'You've been through this. You're not that person anymore things change.' Staring at Angelus she knew that it was true, things did change. His movements were different, the way he spoke and the looks he gave Buffy.

"He loves her." whispered Trinity. The Angelus she knew could never love but maybe Angel could. She still hated and feared him and yet at that moment she wanted to save him, not for his sake but for Buffy's.

She saw the demons beating them, their opponents moves were just to slow and sluggish. Then she felt the power in the air. She was still absorbing energy through the sword and the stone was taking theirs.

Trinity crawled to her knees. She knew what she had to do. Grasping the sword in both hands she began to pull. She could feel the metal slide free of flesh and bone until it finally freed itself of her body. The moment the hot steel left her heart, the Stone flared up brighter and began to suck in energy rapidly. Everyone in the room felt it but above all Trinity. It was trying to draw the energy it had given her back into itself but it had given too much. It couldn't handle it and eventually the Stone calmed down again. It was still drawing energy in but not at such a strong rate.

Trinity dropped the sword and fell down onto all fours in the dust. The Stone had torn a considerable chunk of energy back into itself. If Trin had taking the sword out a minute earlier she would most likely have died.

The trouble wasn't nearly over though. The rapid draining hadn't only effected her but everyone in the room with a soul. Buffy and Angel were on their knees trying to protect themselves from the blows rained down upon them. Willow, Xander and Giles lay on the floor. They could barely keep their eyes open.

Trinity picked up the sword and heaved herself to her feet. She stumbled towards the stone dragging the sword in the dirt behind her.

Craw noticed the girl walking slowly to the stone. He watched as she reached out and grasped it in her hand then with one fierce pull, tugged it free from the wall. Rage built up inside him. "That's mine!"

He ran at Trinity's unprotected back teeth bared and the spike in his arm fully extended. At the last moment the girl turned around and Craw's momentum impaled him on the sword.

She watched as shock then agony flew across his features.

"No." he managed to say weakly and then he fell backwards onto the floor.

Trinity stared down into the glassy eyes below her for a moment before she pulled the sword free of the corpse.

Tynam and Aspen turned and noticed the girl dropping the stone on the floor and raising her sword. Craws body lay inches away from her. They raced towards Trinity knowing inside they would be much to late.

Trinity swung the sword down and hit the stone shattering it instantly.

Energy exploded from it knocking her backwards. It flooded into the nearest souls it could find giving them all a huge rush.

Buffy and Angel climbed to their feet feeling fresh and renewed.

"Wow. I've never felt this good! It's incredible." said Buffy flexing her fists and feeling the strength behind them.

"Buffy!"

The Slayer turned and saw a sword flying towards her. She caught it easily and looked at Trinity.

"It's infused with magic." she slurred out and pointed to the dead Beastealcian besides her before falling to her knees.

Buffy nodded and faced Tynam and Aspen who had stopped at the opposite end of the cavern. "Ok now I'm ready to play."

Buffy and Angel ran forwards and launched into a flurry of kicks and punches, the energy boost adding strength they had never had to their hits. The demons tried desperately to protect themselves. Their bodies ached all over from the torrent of strikes. Finally Buffy raised her sword.

"All we want is the girl!" cried out Tynam. "She betrayed you. She was going to use the Stone."

"That might be so but she still helped me out so I owe her one." Buffy shook her head in disgust. "You're nothing but cowards who hide in the shadows. I've got no respect for stalkers."

With that Buffy brought down the sword and killed Tynam in one blow before repeating the move on Aspen.

Wiping the sweat from her brow with the sleeve of her shirt, Buffy looked round, relief flooding through her at the sight of all her friends alive and well. Then her heart sank as she saw Angel cradling Trinity looking distraught. He stroked her hair from her face trying to calm her, as she shook from pain, her body going into shock.

Trinity was whispering rambling sentences over and over through gritted teeth clinging onto Angel's arm.

"I deserve this, I deserve everything I get. I deserve pain and I don't deserve to be happy but I thought I did but I don't. I didn't help anybody, I was going to use it and I wanted to but then the people. I can't take anymore blood on my hands Angelus. Even if I don't get to be with them in the end I deserve that too. I should have taken the herb, the witch was right. I'm never going to see them and that's right I shouldn't. I killed them."

"Trinity, they're fine. Everyone's fine. You did nothing wrong."

"Blame me. Please blame me. It's my fault they're not fine."

Angel shushed her and stroked her hot and sweaty brow. Trinity inhaled sharply and bowed her back as another jolt of pain went through her.

Willow, Xander and Giles came and knelt beside her.

"What's happening to her Giles?" asked Angel fraught with worry.

"I believe it's the energy she absorbed. It's trying to find a place in her body but with two separate entities in there it doesn't know which to choose, demon or human. It is meant to give strength to the host but it would seem that both sides of her are too evenly matched."

"Angelus?"

Angel looked down at Trinity. "I'm here."

"I looked for you afterwards. I searched the world. I was told you were dead and I was so sad. Now though, now it's all different." She grabbed the front of his shirt and tugged him down to her face. "Now I get to kill you myself." she spat out.

She released him and collapsed back down into his lap.

"She's passed out." said Giles.

"She's been doing a lot of that recently" commented Xander.

Buffy walked up to Angel. "What was she talking about Angel? Who's not fine? What happened?"

"Yes I think we would all like to know that." added Giles. "I have a feeling this situation runs a lot deeper then we know."

Angel gazed down at Trinity and pulled her necklace out from behind her shirt. He held it up to show a small silver ring dangling from it.

"You wouldn't believe just how deep it goes."


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

Giles walked down the stairs and joined the others sat on the couch. Willow walked over and handed him a cup of tea to which he nodded his thanks.

"How is she?" asked Buffy.

"Resting. She woke up an hour ago but didn't say much. It seems the fever has passed and the pain has gone so I think we can assume the energy picked a side."

"Yeah but which." said Xander voicing everyone's thoughts.

"That I think will only reveal itself with time." said Giles. "She still wasn't quite recovered from her old injuries so I think she is sufficiently exhausted enough to say she won't be going anywhere for a few days."

Buffy nodded her head and turned to Angel. "Right. Talk."

Angel cast his eyes downward. "The things I did as Angelus were awful but Trinity was one of my own and yet I still had to hurt her."

"Like you had to hurt everything." said Xander.

Buffy glared at him. "Xander shut up."

Angel shook his head. "No for once he's right. I did have to."

"I am still perplexed as to how Trinity can be a half vampire?" said Giles.

Angel looked up. "I guess I should start there." he said sighing. "It was in London in 1860. I was searching for a gift for Darla, I had upset her some how, I don't know. As I trawled the streets, I found a cab in the middle of the road and a women screaming inside. She was already far into labour and the driver had disappeared. I offered her assistance and she was so scared she took it. She told me her name was Maria Calero and she was on her way to meet her husband Joseph. She was never meant to have left the house but she didn't want to be away from her husband and with child. She poured her heart out to me and I let her. Then when she had finished I told her that it was a pity her story had such a tragic end, and then I killed her. She kept screaming for me not to hurt Maria, almost clawed my eyes out but it all added to the thrill. I decided that maybe a newborn would be a fitting gift for Darla and so I tore her womb open and took the child from inside. That's when the driver arrived back with help so I stole off into the night with a screaming child."

"You stole a baby." said Willow shocked.

Angel nodded. "Problem was the baby wouldn't stop crying so I put my fingers in her mouth to hush her. The moment I touched her tongue she quietened down. You see I had my own blood on my hands from the scratches on my face. She suckled on my fingers and then fell asleep. I took her home to Darla who was furious. Trinity had died on the way home. What was she going to do with a dead baby she screamed at me. I put the child on the table and spent the rest of the night trying to get back into Darla's favours." Angel took a deep breath before continuing, trying to work through his emotions as he relived the night.

"Dru came in the next night crowing about the dark child. I thought she was just going through another one of her funny moments until I heard the crying. I ran out and found the child there screaming it's head off. All four off us were stunned, no one had heard of this before. We went to every demon expert we could find and not one had heard of a situation like this. Most thought it was the coming of the day walker, a powerful vampire, but we'd already been told Trinity wasn't a full vampire, she was half human. The only explanation was somehow when I fed from her mother, whatever occurs when a vampire is made happened to a lesser extent to her. when I fed her my blood I just sealed the deal. It was safe to say Darla wasn't too happy about being a mother but I couldn't just throw this opportunity away. As she grew I taught her everything I knew, as did the others. We all doted on her in the end and she grew up to become a lethal and vicious killer. I used to feel so proud watching my child torture her victims. We were happy for decades."

"She grew up?" questioned Giles.

"Yes. At first it was rapidly. By the time she was one she already looked and acted like a four year old. As she approached her teens though she slowed right down until her looks evened up with her age and then she stopped. Don't ask me why, there's a million mysteries still when it comes to Trin."

"So what happened next?" asked Buffy.

"As the years past she began to grow distant and disappear for long periods of time. Eventually one day she disappeared altogether. I was livid. After all I had done for her she had run out on me. Darla insisted she had just gone to make her own mark on the world but I knew better. A few years later I caught word of her. She was living with a Watcher named Oscar Kinnell and his adopted son Joshua Rolay."

"Oscar Kinnell? Why he was a brilliant Watcher. His Slayer was one of the longer surviving ones and she brought about the downfall of many a powerful creature." said Giles excitedly.

"Well his reputation was just as strong then so you can imagine my reaction when I found out she had taken up the good fight. I became obsessed with tracking her down and teaching her the error of her ways but Trinity knew me too well and always managed to stay that bit ahead of me. Then she slipped up. She went and got married."

"Maria's married!" exclaimed Xander.

Angel looked at him. "I'll explain. She married Oscar's son Joshua, I presume he was the reason she left in the first place. After a few years she started to get sloppy and stay in places longer, least that's what I thought. Then I heard news in society gossip. Maria and Joshua Rolay were proud parents of a healthy son Gabriel."

"A pregnant vampire?" Willow said frowning.

"You're forgetting she's half human." said Giles.

Angel continued with his story. "With a child it meant they had to stay longer in places and so finally one night a few years later I caught up with her. I spent the first month just watching her waiting for my opportunity. Then one came up. She had gone to some high class party and taken her son. Oscar and Joshua stayed at home. I got an invite to enter the house then strolled in and murdered them as slowly and as painfully as I could imagine. I left enough signs that when she arrived home that night there was no mistaking who it was. I watched her running from the house clutching her five year old and I had never felt such pleasure in years."

Willow put her hand to her mouth.

"It wasn't enough though. I didn't want her to ever be happy after the way she treated me, after everything I had done for her. I wanted the child. I thought I would have to wait decades for the chance and so I stopped tracking her but I finally had luck on my side. She accidentally moved to the area I had been staying, a few years later. I didn't even wait or watch. I walked straight into the house and stole the child from his bed. Trinity chased after me. She had thought that as she and Gabe were the only ones living there she would be safe. I couldn't possibly get an invitation in but the child had demon blood in him. I didn't need one. I let her beg for his life and offer up her own in place. I promised her everything she asked for and then I slit his throat and left."

Angel closed his eyes and rubbed a hand over his mouth. " A couple of months later I got my soul back. Just a couple more months and she would have been safe forever."

"That's awful." said Willow tears brimming in her eyes.

"I never saw her again till now though I did hear of her movements for a while. She was talking about Joshua and Gabriel in that cavern. I think she wanted to become human so she could be with them when she died." Angel closed his eyes and shook his head. "She thinks she's going to hell."

"There might be another reason" said Giles. "She was ill Angel, she kept have fits of a sort. When I put her upstairs she said something about her demon and human fighting as if they were two different creatures trapped in her body. I had been trying to think of reasons why she would want the Stone earlier and then it dawned on me. Life to the living, death to the dead. She believed the demon in her was winning and the only way to stop herself from becoming pure vampire would be to kill it. She thought the Stone would give power to her human side while killing off her demon side."

"A win, win situation there." said Xander.

"Not quite. Remember the state she was in after she destroyed the Stone. The power couldn't pick a side. It is a possibility that her human side could have been destroyed instead had she carried on with the ritual."

"Leaving her a full vampire." said Buffy.

Angel glanced towards the window not wanting to carry on the conversation. "I have to go the sun will be up soon."

He walked towards the door and opened it. "Take care of her for me will you." he said without turning and then disappeared into the night.

He had only been walking a few minutes when Buffy jogged up beside him.

"You didn't say goodbye."

Angel looked sadly at Buffy. "I didn't think you wanted me to. I know you think I will run off with Trinity."

Buffy shook her head. "Maybe at first but not anymore."

Angel laughed bitterly. "Hard to love someone you loathe."

Buffy took his hand and held it up to her lips. "I know you still love her but my hearts telling me that, that is history and right now I'm the one you love. Just like I love you"

"How can you still love me after hearing that?" said Angel angrily.

"Because that was Angelus and I don't love him. I love you, Angel. You're not that man anymore and I know that Trinity will agree with me."

Angel looked at the ground. "I can never make it right the things I did to her but… I hope she would maybe one day forgive me or at least put it behind us and know that things are changed."

"She will. I'm sure of it."

Buffy stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around her vampire. Then she kissed him and put all of her faith and belief in him into it, showing him that she truly did love him."


	15. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

As soon as she had strength enough to walk, Trinity disappeared. She left when the house was empty leaving no sign that she had ever been there in the first place except for a single simple note saying Thank you. T.

No one attempted to look for her though it did pass through their minds, knowing that when she was ready she would make herself known. Angel didn't ever ask them if they had heard anything. Buffy often wondered whether he was more worried about her disappearing forever or about her showing up again and have to deal with the problems that would arrive with her.

Each one of them felt very differently about her. Willow felt so badly for her that should couldn't help but forgive her completely for her lies and almost betrayal. Giles trusted her more as soon as Angel told him that the Watcher Oscar Kinnell had taken her under his wing. He had too much respect for him to not trust his judgement over the half breed. Xander was torn. He never would admit it but he liked Trinity. Trusting her would mean he was ok with vampires though and so in a round about way he would be ok with Angel. He wasn't anywhere near that step just yet. Buffy was silent on the issue whenever she cropped up in conversation. She had gone through so many emotions when it came to their short relationship that now she didn't know how to feel. She was so pleased to have someone closer to her level of Slaying when she first arrived but when the lies started to come out she felt angry at her, but at the same time Trinity had helped her and so she felt guilty at the anger. When her vampire side and her relationship with Angel was finally revealed, she felt jealous and resented her for the similarities the two vampires shared. She was afraid for the first time ever that one day Angel would leave her. And then Angel had told them their history and now she felt numb.

Buffy tried to put her to the back of her mind but she would find that the issue was too stubborn to go away and so Buffy was grateful when she finally saw her again.

Buffy walked along the corridors of Sunnydale High. She just slipped pass a group of giggling cheerleaders when she saw her standing with an armful of books at her locker. Trinity must have sensed her because she immediately stopped what she was doing and looked up, staring into the metal box. A few seconds later she sighed and turned her head to look at Buffy.

Buffy stood still and stared deep into Trinity's hazel eyes. She saw so much hurt and regret in them that it was almost painful for her to see but still she kept on staring. She had been through so much in her long life time that it was almost a wonder to her that Angel wasn't right and that she hadn't lost her mind.

Buffy felt a pang of guilt run through her. She always complained about her lot in life and it was true that it wasn't easy but was it really as terrible as she thought? She had her friends, her mother and her boyfriend. She was surrounded by people she loved and who loved her. Being a Slayer wasn't bad when she knew she would come back after a hard night and see those people. Having people like that in your life and then having them torn away from you, that would be agony to live with and having to live with it for what could possibly be eternity, Buffy didn't know what she would do being forever alone.

She did pity Trinity and she knew that but she still didn't feel she could trust her. She had lied to them and whether it was necessary or not Buffy found it hard to forgive. Maybe one day she could but the trust had to be earned back.

Trinity broke eye contact with her for a moment as if taking time to compose herself. When her eyes eventually locked back onto Buffy's, they were as empty as if the emotion had never even existed. Buffy knew it was a mask and for the first time she didn't fault her for one. It was what she needed to get by.

She realised then that the only way for Trinity to start earning her trust back was to start building a new relationship and this one on truth. To do that she would have to give her forgiveness. Knowing it suddenly made it feel so easy to do and so Buffy smiled at her.

Trinity looked startled for a moment and then slowly and warily she returned the smile. Buffy nodded at her and Trinity felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She turned back to her locker and carried on putting away her books. Buffy turned and walked down the hall of Sunnydale High, finally content she had done the right thing.


End file.
